A few days ago a North Korean soldier at the DMZ made a desperate run for the south side. His fellow soldiers shot many rounds at him and he was hit four times. But he'd made it most of the way and American army medics kept him alive as a US Blackhawk helicopter evacuated him to a hospital.
He was still alive, but barely. He's now in one of South Korea's best trauma hospitals. He'd suffered massive internal bleeding and when surgeons opened him up to repair the damage, they found his stomach and intestines filled with round-worms. The largest was 10 inches long. The surgeon said that he'd read about such things in places like Africa, but had never seen it with his own eyes. Roundworm infestations arise where gardens are fertilized with human feces.
The soldier was only 5 ft 5", weighed 132 pounds and appeared to be malnourished.
Given his prior state of ill-health, his serious chest and abdominal wounds, his blood loss before he could be recovered and the parasites, he isn't expected to survive.
The more significant thing is that if his physical state is indicative of that of the average North Korean soldier, then that army's fighting ability might be relatively limited.
http://www.newsweek.com/north-korean-def...eon-713147
He was still alive, but barely. He's now in one of South Korea's best trauma hospitals. He'd suffered massive internal bleeding and when surgeons opened him up to repair the damage, they found his stomach and intestines filled with round-worms. The largest was 10 inches long. The surgeon said that he'd read about such things in places like Africa, but had never seen it with his own eyes. Roundworm infestations arise where gardens are fertilized with human feces.
The soldier was only 5 ft 5", weighed 132 pounds and appeared to be malnourished.
Given his prior state of ill-health, his serious chest and abdominal wounds, his blood loss before he could be recovered and the parasites, he isn't expected to survive.
The more significant thing is that if his physical state is indicative of that of the average North Korean soldier, then that army's fighting ability might be relatively limited.
http://www.newsweek.com/north-korean-def...eon-713147