South Korea’s military said the man crossed a heavily fortified border into North Korea in a rare defection.
File photo of Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in South Korea | AP
South Korea’s military said on Sunday that a South Korean had crossed a heavily fortified border in a rare defection for North Korea.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it launched a search operation after locating the man at around 9:20 pm (1220 GMT) on Saturday night on the eastern side of the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas.
“We have confirmed that the man crossed the military demarcation line at around 10:40 am (1340 GMT) and headed north,” the JCS said.
The JCS said it could not confirm whether the man was alive, but sent a notice to the North through a military hotline for security.
The border crossing, which is illegal in South Korea, comes after North Korea implemented strict anti-coronavirus measures since closing the borders in early 2020, though it has not confirmed any infections.
There was a public and political uproar after North Korean soldiers shot and killed a missing South Korean fisheries officer at sea in September 2020, for which Pyongyang blamed anti-virus regulations and apologized.
Two months ago, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declared a national emergency and sealed off a border town after a North Korean protester who he said had COVID-19 symptoms illegally moved from south to north. had crossed the border.
North Korea’s prolonged lockdown and restrictions on inter-provincial movement have pushed the number of North Korean defectors arriving in the South to an all-time low.
Cross-border relations soured after nuclear disarmament talks between Pyongyang and Washington stalled since a failed summit in 2019.
United Nations forces led by South Korea and the US are technically still at war with North Korea because the 1950–1953 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
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