Crocodiles of Pyongyang By Casey Lartigue Jr. If your mother says she loves you, check it out. That's an old adage in journalism advising reporters to be skeptical. But should you "check it out" if a broker rescuing you from the crocodiles of the North Korean regime warns there are alligators or crocodiles in a river you are about to cross? Okay, so most people in this world are never in that kind of situation. Many North Korean refugees, however, are warned about crocodiles in the last leg of their escape to freedom across Thailand's Mekong River. North Korean refugees talk about the terror they felt as they got closer to freedom knowing they could end up in the mouth of a crocodile.