A male North Korean crossed the forbidding Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on Thursday and made it to South Korea with help from the South Korean military, according to a statement from the South Korean Ministry of National Defense.
The North Korean, who was not identified in the Defense Ministry’s statement to reporters on Friday, made a rare and dangerous land crossing through the DMZ, which is littered with landmines.
Most defectors flee North Korea by crossing through China into third-party nations like Thailand because the direct route into South Korea is so dangerous. It is common practice for defectors to get out of China as quickly as possible because the Chinese are likely to return them to North Korea if they are captured.
The man was detected by South Korean forces while crossing a shallow stream in the midwestern segment of the border. The fleeing individual was reportedly clever enough to hold still during daylight and use heavily forested terrain for cover to evade detection by North Korean forces.
Korea Joongang Daily (KJD) noted the “presumed defector” took a “methodical” and carefully planned route through the DMZ, deftly avoiding the squads of North Korean troops who have been rebuilding fortifications in the border zone as relations between Pyongyang and Seoul deteriorated over the past year.
“Since April last year, North Korea has been busy fortifying several frontline regions – laying landmines, reinforcing tactical roads and erecting unidentified structures resembling anti-tank barriers,” KJD said.
The stream the man crossed through was carefully chosen, as it comprises part of the MDL – the official boundary between North and South Korean territory – and North Korea’s fortification efforts have thus far avoided terrain where construction would be challenging.
“There are some unconfirmed mines in the area, but because of the stream’s nature, with exposed earth, avoiding them isn’t particularly difficult,” a South Korean defense official noted.
The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said troops were deployed to guide the man safely through the DMZ, a “standard guiding operation to secure custody” that took about 20 hours to complete.
The North Korean, described by the Joint Chiefs as an unarmed civilian, was taken into custody by South Korean forces after passing through the DMZ. South Korean officials did not say whether the man indicated a desire to defect.
According to South Korean officials and the United Nations command, North Korean forces did not respond to the “standard guiding operation,” even though it involved a fair number of South Korean troops operating in the DMZ.
South Korea’s new left-wing president Lee Jae-myung, winner of a June 3 special election to replace impeached president Yoon Suk-yeol, has been attempting to build friendlier relations with Pyongyang. Among other measures, Lee ordered a halt to propaganda messages (and K-pop music) delivered across the DMZ by loudspeakers and balloons.
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