A North Korean male soldier crossed the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) and was apprehended by South Korean forces. The soldier reportedly expressed his intention to defect.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) announced on Wednesday that its military secured a North Korean soldier on Tuesday night along the central front. Relevant details are currently under investigation by the appropriate authorities.
The North Korean soldier is believed to have crossed the MDL in the Hwacheon area of Gangwon Province around 10:00 p.m. (Korean time) on Tuesday. Upon detection by South Korean forces, he immediately expressed his desire to defect. The soldier’s unit and rank are still being verified.
This marks the first North Korean military defection in about eight months, and the fourth instance of North Korean citizens, including military personnel, crossing the border since the Lee Jae-myung administration took office.
On October 19 last year, an unarmed North Korean soldier crossed the MDL in the central front and expressed his intention to defect. On August 20 of the same year, another North Korean soldier crossed the MDL in the eastern front of Goseong, Gangwon Province, also seeking to defect.
A month earlier, on July 3 last year, a man presumed to be a soldier crossed into South Korea by concealing himself in bushes along a border river and moving at night. On July 31, a North Korean civilian man defected through the neutral waters of the Han River near Incheon.