American soldiers Larry Allen Abshier and Joe Dresnok had separately defected, during 1962, when they crossed the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

"[3] Dresnok stated in his documentary that Parrish had received death threats from his stepfather who had accused him of having sexual relations with his stepsister.

He married a Lebanese woman, Siham Shraiteh, and together they had three sons (two of them named Michael and Ricky), all of whom remain in North Korea.

Jenkins, in his autobiography, claims that Siham and three other young Lebanese women were lured to North Korea under false pretenses, then married to the Americans.

Siham appears in the film Crossing the Line, and vehemently denies the allegations that she was kidnapped or forced to go to North Korea, affirming that she is there by choice.