Annika Culver, a specialist in East Asian history at FSU, has joined those speculating on why a North Korean man that defected to South Korea choose to return to the North. Although some have suggested he was likely a spy, Culver suspects he may not have been satisfied with his South Korean standard of living, compared to the special treatment he received as an athlete in the North.

"There's a sizeable number of elites in the North Korean state that are benefiting quite a lot from this regime. My theory is that as a working-class person in South Korea, he didn't have much social status and may have missed the life he had previously where as an athlete he would have been given many more benefits,” Culver said.

• Annika Culver