Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
South Korea’s military said a North Korean soldier crossed the rivals’ heavily guarded border into South Korea on Sunday.
The army detained the soldier who crossed the central part of South Korea’s land border Joint Chiefs of Staff Said in a statement. It said the soldier expressed his desire to resettle in South Korea.
It was the first reported defection by a North Korean soldier since a North Korean staff sergeant fled to South Korea across the eastern side of the border in August 2024.
Despite two border crossings, it is not common for North Koreans to cross the land border.
Contrary to its official name, the Demilitarized Zone, the 248 kilometers (155 mi) long, 4 kilometers (2.5 mi) wide border is protected by land mines, tank traps, barbed wire fences and combat troops. In 2017, when a fleeing North Korean soldier rapidly crossed the border, North Korean soldiers fired about 40 rounds before South Korean soldiers pulled the injured soldier to safety.
A large portion of the approximately 34,000 North Koreans who fled to South Korea since the end of the 1950–53 Korean War came from here. ChinaWhich shares a long, porous border with North Korea.
Relations between the two Koreas remain tense, with North Korea repeatedly rejecting South Korea’s efforts to moderate the president. lee jae myungWho took office in June with a pledge to restore reconciliation between the rivals.