An unidentified North Korean man crossed into South Korea with the assistance of Seoul’s military through a heavily mined land border Thursday. He was taken into custody after the crossing, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Friday that the man was first spotted between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. Thursday. The man did move a lot during the day and was eventually approached by South Korea’s military near the Korean Demilitarized Zone.
“The military identified the individual near the MDL, conducted tracking and surveillance,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, according to DW. The military then “successfully carried out a standard guiding operation to secure custody.”
An investigation will be conducted by the authorities into the crossing. The United Nations Command was notified of the incident.
Thousands of people have fled from North Korea to South Korea since the peninsula was split during the war in the 1950s. Defections directly to South Korea are uncommon, as the area is tracked closely by both countries’ militaries, is packed with mines and is filled with dense forest.
Tensions have risen in recent months, with North Korea sending trash-filled balloons to South Korea, while Seoul has blasted anti-North Korea propaganda through loudspeakers. In June, South Korea’s President Lee Jae-myung ordered a pause to the broadcasts as part of efforts to reestablish “trust in inter-Korean relations and promote peace on the Korean Peninsula.”
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