While I write this, the still unfolding story of the U.S. citizen dashing across the border at Panmunjeom is the talk of the internet. It brought up memories from the Cold War in Europe - but not really deja-vus. Actually, one of the most striking differences between the Cold War in Europe, the German division in particular, and the ongoing division of the Korean Peninsula is the way defections and defectors are treated on “this side” (the Southern respectively Western) side of the border. This is particularly true for “re-defections” or for defections toward the East, or here, the North.