by REERA YOO | @reeraboo
editor@charactermedia.com
A teenaged North Korean soldier walked across the heavily mined Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on Monday in a bid to defect to South Korea, the South Korean defense ministry said.
After crossing the 2.5-mile-wide DMZ, the 19-year-old soldier approached a remote South Korean guard post in Gangwon Province’s Hwacheon county at around 8 a.m. on June 15, according to the New York Times. There were no warning shots or exchange of fire, as the solider clearly expressed his wish to defect as he crossed the inter-Korean border, according to defense ministry officials. He is currently being held in custody while South Korean authorities run a background check.
It is extremely rare for defectors to walk across the DMZ, especially since it is heavily fortified with land mines, barbed wire and patrolmen. The last such crossing was back in 2012, when a North Korean serviceman scaled three barbed-wire fences and knocked on the barracks of South Korean border guards. That same year, another North Korean soldier killed two of his commanding officers before crossing the western side of the DMZ.
Most North Korean defectors, many of whom are civilians, usually cross the North Korea-China border and travel through Southeast Asian nations to reach South Korea.
According to South Korea’s unification ministry, the number of North Korean defectors dropped from 2,706 in 2011 to 1,397 last year. So far, 535 North Korean defectors have arrived in South Korea within the past five months of 2015.
In recent weeks, North Korea has been increasing guard patrols along the DMZ in order to prevent defection through the inter-Korean border, according to Yonhap News Agency.
Also on Monday, North Korea said it would release two South Korean detainees who were arrested on May 11 for illegally entering the country through China. South Korea’s unification ministry agreed to the proposal and announced that the two detainees will be received at the truce village of Panmunjom on Wednesday.
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Featured image via journeylism.nl
