Seoul: North Korea defector likely made rare border crossing

SEOUL, South Korea — A idiosyncratic who crossed the borderline into North Korea connected New Year’s Day was apt a defector who had slipped done the aforesaid heavy fortified frontier successful the different absorption to settee successful South Korea successful precocious 2020, South Korea’s subject said Monday.

South Korean surveillance instrumentality earlier detected an unidentified idiosyncratic entering North Korean territory crossed the eastbound information of the borderline connected Saturday. The subject said its information camera showed the idiosyncratic crawling implicit a barbed-wire obstruction established on the confederate borderline of the border.

On Monday, the Defense Ministry said successful a connection it suspects a North Korean defector was the latest border-crosser and that it is trying to corroborate related information.

A ministry authoritative said the connection refers to a erstwhile North Korean national who was captured astatine the confederate portion of the border, besides connected the eastbound section, successful November 2020. The antheral identified himself arsenic a erstwhile gymnast and told investigators that helium had crawled implicit barbed ligament fences to defect earlier being recovered by South Korean troops, the authoritative said requesting anonymity citing section rules.

Ministry spokesperson Boo Seung-Chan said earlier Monday that North Korea has not responded to a South Korean connection sent the erstwhile time to guarantee the person’s safety.

In September 2020, North Korea killed a South Korean fisheries authoritative recovered floating successful its waters on a oversea boundary. South Korea said that North Korea troops were nether orders to sprout anyone illegally crossing the borderline to support against the coronavirus pandemic.

The South Korean ministry didn’t supply further details specified arsenic wherefore it believes the defector went backmost to the North.

About 34,000 North Koreans person fled to South Korea for economical and governmental reasons since the precocious 1990s, and lone astir 30 of them person returned location successful the past 10 years, according to South Korean authorities records.

Observers accidental those returnees apt failed to set to caller highly competitive, capitalistic lives successful South Korea, had large debts oregon were blackmailed by North Korean agents who threatened to bash harm to their loved ones if they didn’t return.

Defecting via the borderline is rare. Unlike its authoritative name, the Demilitarized Zone, the 248-kilometer (155-mile) -long, 4-kilometer (2.5-mile) -wide borderline is guarded by onshore mines, vessel traps and combat troops connected some sides arsenic good arsenic barbed ligament fences. A immense bulk of the North Korean defectors successful South Korea person travel present via China and Southeast Asian countries.

Saturday’s borderline crossing has raised questions astir South Korea’s information posture arsenic the borderline crosser’s introduction into the DMZ was not instantly announcement by South Korean troops though their surveillance instrumentality was aboriginal recovered to person detected the person. The subject acknowledged it had sent soldiers but failed to find the idiosyncratic earlier helium oregon she crossed the border.

In caller years, the South Korean subject faced akin disapproval erstwhile North Koreans snaked done DMZ areas unnoticed to defect, including 1 who knocked connected the doorway of a South Korean service barrack.