A North Korean soldier defected to South Korea after fleeing across the heavily fortified demilitarized zone between the two nations.
The unnamed soldier was spotted floating south down the Imjin River across the Military Demarcation Line around 11:38 p.m. last Wednesday night, when the South Korean military took him into custody.
“A South Korean soldier on guard duty first found an unidentified object floating in the river via thermal observation devices, which was later confirmed as a person,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap. “The man is an active-duty soldier, and he expressed his desire to defect to the South. Related procedures are underway.”
The total number of North Korean defectors reaching South Korea now stands at 32,467. Last year, more than 1,100 North Koreans defected to the south. Defection numbers peaked in 2009, with almost 3,000 making the treacherous journey south. Numbers have fallen since Kim Jong Un came to power in 2011.
Most defectors cross North Korean’s northern border and travel through China to reach Southeast Asia, where they are met by South Korean officials. Very few have successfully crossed the DMZ, one of the most fortified borders in the world where land mines, barbed wire, and a militarized strip of no man’s land make the journey nearly impossible.
In November 2017, North Korea violated the 1953 armistice agreement that ended the Korean War by firing across the demarcation line at a fleeing North Korean soldier. The soldier first tried to escape in a jeep but had to abandon the vehicle after getting stuck in a ditch. While running, he was shot by his fellow soldiers at least five times before being rescued by South Korean troops. He was stabilized at a South Korean hospital and survived.
This latest defection comes as renewed tensions plague the Korean Peninsula. North Korea launched two missile tests in response to joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises held in July.
