Man who fled to North Korea is a likely previous defector to South Korea, authorities say

SEOUL — The antheral who crossed the heavy fortified borderline into North Korea is believed to beryllium a erstwhile defector from the North to South Korea.

South Korea’s Defense Ministry said Monday that the man, who was seen crawling up a barbed-wire obstruction connected the eastbound broadside of the demilitarized portion betwixt the 2 Koreas, is believed to beryllium a North Korean successful his aboriginal 30s who entered South Korea successful November 2020 done the aforesaid country arsenic helium left. Defections to North Korea are highly rare.

“The authorities successful complaint are examining applicable details,” the Defense Ministry said successful a statement.

The man, who managed to evade the South Korean military’s searches for hours until reaching the North precocious Saturday, surmounted a 10-foot-high barbed-wire obstruction to marque it done the heavy guarded border, according to section quality reports, citing authorities sources.

The man, upon arriving successful South Korea, told quality officials successful Seoul that helium utilized to beryllium a gymnast successful North Korea and demonstrated his jumping skills successful beforehand of them, according to the quality reports.

The South Korean authorities said it notified North Korea of the man’s crossing to guarantee his safety. The North confirmed that the notification had been received but did not springiness immoderate effect astir his safety, a South Korean defence authoritative said connected Monday, briefing reporters nether the information of anonymity.

The authoritative said the borderline crosser is not apt to beryllium a spy for North Korea but added that authorities are inactive investigating that possibility.

Some 33,800 North Koreans person fled to the South since the aboriginal 1990s to flight poorness and governmental oppression. Most of them marque their mode to South Korea done China, and crossings done the fortified DMZ are rare. The constrictive portion is the astir heavy equipped borderland successful the world, with minefields and barbed-wire fences.

It is adjacent rarer for the defectors who settled successful the South to transverse the DMZ backmost into the North.

But this is not the archetypal time: In July 2020, a 24-year-old North Korean defector who had been surviving successful the South swam crossed a stream backmost to his hometown successful the North. Later that month, North Korean authorities locked down the metropolis of Kaesong, saying the idiosyncratic who returned from the South displayed covid-19 symptoms and perchance dispersed the microorganism successful the region.

Two months later, a South Korean fisheries authoritative who went missing adjacent the 2 countries’ disputed maritime borderline was fatally changeable by North Korean subject personnel. North Korea issued a uncommon apology astatine the time, saying the shooting decease was a antiaircraft measurement to forestall immoderate coronavirus outbreak.

The borderline crossings, though lone a fistful person occurred implicit the past years, raised alarms successful South Korea implicit information lapses astir the borderline area.

South Korean troops guarding the borderline failed to instantly observe the crossing Saturday, though it was aboriginal recovered to person been captured successful surveillance footage.

More than a twelve South Korean subject unit person been dispatched to the tract of the crossing to analyse details of the incident, said Kim Jun-rak, spokesperson for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.