queens mom finds her abducted son in korea

Last week, a Queens mom whose 7-year-old son was abducted by her ex-husband last summer was reunited with him after locating him in South Korea: Queens mom finds her abducted 7-year-old son in South Korea. Tiffany Rubin arrived back safely in New York with her son Kobe on Wednesday night after "snatching" him back at a school near Seoul. Her ex-husband, Jeffrey Sako, a native of South Korea, had been battling Rubin over child custody, when he took him away to South Korea last August. Rubin was able to track him down again, thanks to the help of the American Association for Lost Children, a nonprofit group that finds missing kids.

This is a great story, and I'm glad to a mom was able to track down her abducted son. No mother should have to go through that. Props for her courage and resolve. But why does the news story make it sound like she smuggled him out of North Korea? Of course, I don't know the full details, but it seems odd that should would have to go to such great lengths, including smuggling the kid out of the school disguised with a wig, to make "a clean getaway." Did getting him back really require "an act of derring-do that would make James Bond proud"? Just seems rather dramatic.