June 24, 2026, 06:13June 24, 2026, 06:13
A North Korean soldier appears to have crossed the heavily secured inter-Korean border into South Korea on Wednesday night. The South Korean General Staff said he was taken into custody there by the authorities, according to the official Yonhap news agency.
The soldier is said to have expressed his intention to defect to South Korea. Further background to the case is currently being investigated, it was said. It has not been confirmed whether this was a deliberate escape by the soldier.
The two neighboring countries are separated by a highly secured, barely permeable surveillance zone along the demarcation line. According to reports, the North Korean’s current border crossing is the first such case this year.
There are now over 30,000 North Koreans living in South Korea who have fled their largely isolated homeland, which is subject to international sanctions. This usually happens across the northern border to China, from where refugees then reach South Korea via a third country. However, crossing the inter-Korean border is extremely rare. After a thorough examination, South Korea guarantees North Koreans citizenship – which the North in turn sees as an affront.
North and South Korea are still formally at war. After the Korean War (1950-53), an armistice was signed, but no peace treaty. (sda/dpa)