N. Korean soldier defected to S. Korea on foot early Tuesday: S. Korea's military

북한군 1명 강원도 고성 MDL 걸어서 넘었다… 12일만에 또 귀순

Thank you for joining us. I'm Yoon Jung-min.
We start with a North Korean soldier crossing the inter-Korean border early this morning and expressing their intention to defect.
This comes only 12 days after another North Korean defected to the South, by crossing the neutral zone of the Hangang River estuary.
Our defense correspondent Choi Min-jung reports.

A North Korean soldier defected to South Korea on foot early on Tuesday.

According to a South Korean military source, the soldier, who is reportedly a staff sergeant, crossed the Military Demarcation Line in the northeastern county of Goseong-gun, Gangwon-do Province.

Wearing a military uniform, they are believed to have walked south using the road along the east coast.
South Korea's military tracked and monitored the individual, and conducted an operation to guide them into the South.
The individual has been handed over to relevant authorities.

The area where the crossover happened, Goseong, is close to where South Korea has been carrying out loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts, in retaliation to North Korea's continued trash balloon deliveries.
It's also near where North Korean soldiers were recently seen laying mines, as part of the regime's efforts to prevent North Koreans from crossing the border.

"You could say that the defection shows there's a loophole in North Korea's mine laying."

South Korea's Unification Ministry said that the number of defections by North Korean soldiers could be an indirect indicator of the conditions faced by the regime's soldiers near the border.
Tuesday's border crossing comes less than two weeks after a North Korean resident defected to South Korea, by crossing the maritime border.
Choi Min-jung, Arirang News.

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2024-08-20, 18:00 (KST)