South Korea has detained a North Korean man who it believed was trying to defect by crossing the heavily armed land border separating the two countries.
He was apprehended at 9.50am on Wednesday after surveillance equipment spotted him at the eastern end of the demilitarised zone [DMZ], a 248km-long (155-mile) strip of land strewn with mines.
“An investigation is planned to find out details about the man, including how he had come down and whether he wished to defect, ” South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said in a statement.
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The defence ministry declined to confirm a Yonhap news agency report saying the military had issued a “Jindotgae” anti-infiltration alert for the eastern border area.
The incident comes within weeks of a South Korean fisheries ministry official being killed after crossing into North Korea via the countries’ maritime border, sparking a rise in tensions amid claims that North Korean soldiers had shot him dead, doused his body in fuel and set it alight. The South’s intelligence agency said this week it had “circumstantial evidence” indicating that the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, had launched an investigation into the shooting.
Very few of the 31, 000 North Koreans who have defected to the South in the past two decades have done so via the DMZ, which is the scene for occasional military skirmishes but also the setting for cross-border talks during times of détente. Most defectors cross into China and arrive in the South via a third country, often Thailand.
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In 2018 a North Korean soldier defected to South Korea via the eastern part of the DMZ, while another was shot at by his compatriots when he ran across the border in a dramatic escape to the South in 2017.
South Korea resumed tours to its side of the border village of Panmunjom on Wednesday, a year after they were suspended due to an outbreak of African swine fever in the North and, more recently, concerns over the spread of the coronavirus.
The South’s unification minister, Lee In-young, did not mention the suspected defection at a ceremony held on Wednesday to mark the tours’ resumption, but called for free travel among all Koreans within the DMZ and for recently severed inter-Korean hotlines to be reinstated.
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North Korean state media has not commented on Wednesday’s incident at the border, which has separated the countries since the end of the 1950-53 Korean war. South Korea said it had not observed any unusual activity by the North’s military.The soldier was shot and injured by his own military as he crossed to the South Korean side of the Joint Security Area in the village of Panmunjom.
This is the fourth defection by a North Korean soldier via the DMZ - one of the world's most heavily guarded strips of land - in the last three years.
North and South Korea are technically still at war, since the conflict between them ended in 1953 with a truce and not a formal peace treaty.
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According to a statement from South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, the soldier made it across by passing through the Joint Security Area (JSA) at Panmunjom, which is the only portion of the Demilitarised Zone where both forces stand face-to-face.
He crossed from a North Korea post towards our Freedom House [a building on the South Korean side of the border], the statement said. He was hit in the arm and shoulder by gunfire, it added.
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According to South Korean media this is only the third defection across the JSA since the end of the Cold War, the 's Mark Lowen in Seoul reports. The last time a soldier crossed was in 2007, and before that in 1998.
The number of North Koreans defecting to South Korea in the first two-thirds of this year dropped by 13% compared with 2016. From January to August 2017, 780 North Koreans escaped to South Korea, according to officials in Seoul.
The fall is believed to be a result of tighter government surveillance and reinforced border security by both North Korea and China.
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The majority of the defectors flee via China, which has the longest border with North Korea that is easier to cross than the heavily protected DMZ.On either side of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the approximately 150-mile-long, 2.4-mile-wide strip separating North Korea and South Korea, lie armies, weapons and other markers of war.
At the observation post in Paju, a city situated just south of the world-watched 38th parallel, a South Korean solider stands. South Korea and its volatile neighbor have never officially ended the Korean War, signing an armistice that created the DMZ in 1953.
South Korea has assembled an army of about 495, 000 troops. Here, a group of its soldiers performs a demonstration of a search operation near the DMZ.
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The K200, pictured, is a Korean Infantry Fighting Vehicle. It's one of about 2, 700 armored vehicles at the disposal of the South Korean army.
The FA-50 fighter jet, seen here at the South Korean air base in Cheongju, joined the ranks of the South Korean air force in 2013.
Mobile surface-to-air Patriot missile defense systems are one of South Korea's major weapons systems. A Patriot Advanced Capability-2 missile launcher is seen here in 2017. The South Korean military is reportedly looking to upgrade to the PAC-3.
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Is the largest ship in the South Korean navy.According to theKorea Times, it can transport up to 720 marines, six tanks, seven amphibious assault vehicles, 10 trucks and seven helicopters.
Loudspeakers trained to the north are another relatively low-tech tool in South Korea's arsenal. The south uses the speakers to broadcast loud weather forecasts.
South Korea's marine corps has about 28, 800 troops. Here, marines from the country's 2nd Marine Division roll out during a 2016 demonstration at a base in the city of Gimpo near the DMZ.
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In 2017, these F-15K South Korean fighter jets dropped 2, 000-pound MK 84 bombs at the Taebaek Pilsung Firing Range in a show of force.
The South Korean army features approximately 2, 400 tanks, including this K1 main battle tank, seen here firing smoke shells during a 2011 drill in Paju.
The KA-1 aerial control-attack aircraft, seen at the United States' Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, has been part of South Korean air-defense force since 2007.
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The South Korean Air Force boasts 65, 000 troops and 400 combat aircraft, including this RF-16. It's seen firing flares during a 2017 presentation for the media.
The Type 209-class submarine is seen in 2008. It's one of about approximately 10 subs in use by the South Korean navy, per a 2015 report by South Korea's Ministry of National Defense.
Trained sniffer dogs, including this canine seen returning from a patrol in 2010, are part of the South Korean army's effort to police its side of the DMZ border.
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In the DMZ's Joint Security Area, where the demarcation line separates North from South, a North Korean soldier, rear, comes face to face with his South Korean and United Nations counterparts.
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