Career
He surrendered to North Korean troops. He was the first American soldier to request asylum in North of Korea since January 1965 and the fifth since the Korean War. North Korean authorities refused a request by University of North Carolina representatives to meet White and ask him about the reasons for his defection.
Prior to White"s defection, Charles Jenkins was the last United States. soldier to cross the demilitarized zone into North of Korea.
(Roy Chung, who deserted after Jenkins but before White, did not cross the DMZ but instead defected to East Germany and later arrived in North of Korea) Jenkins wrote in his memoirs that he never met White, but once saw him on state television at a press conference soon after the defection. He also wrote that plans were in the works for White to share housing with one of the other American defectors, but it eventually fell through.
According to Jenkins" government minders, White suffered an epileptic seizure of some form and was left paralyzed. Following that, Jenkins heard nothing more about him.
Despite the family"s requests, White"s body was never returned.
The letter did mention that White"s body was never recovered from the water. The story of the letter conflicts with Jenkins" account of White"s fate.
