South Korea arrests North Korean soldier for crossing fortified border

A North Korean soldier was detained after crossing the nation’s strict border, according to South Korea.

According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, which said it “tracked and monitored” the soldier before securing him, the soldier crossed the military demarcation line (MDL) that divides the peninsula on Sunday.

The soldier’s crossing, which is a comparatively uncommon incident in the mine-strewn border zone between the two countries that are technically at war, was the subject of a military statement from South Korea.

The soldier’s desire to defect was described by South Korean media as a “defection,” according to the Chosun Ilbo daily, who claimed the soldier approached a South Korean soldier and received a report from the newspaper Chosun Ilbo.

The North Koreans have fled poverty and repression in North Korea since the peninsula was divided in the 1950s, and the soldier would be one of them. 236 North Koreans arrived in the South last year, making up 88 percent of the total.

A North Korean soldier who demonizes defectors as “human scum” last escaped to the South in August of last year.

The majority of defectors, however, choose a different route: crossing China’s border before eventually making their way to the South. Because of the presence of mines and strict surveillance on both sides of the border, direct crossings between the two Koreas are relatively uncommon and extremely risky.

The most recent soldier to cross the border may have been able to navigate the dangerous terrain because of his “likely familiarity with the area,” according to Hong Min, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification.

Pyongyang won’t be happy about the most recent crossing because it could learn about its troop movements and operations in the border region, the analyst told the AFP news agency.

A South Korean military-led 20-hour operation helped a North Korean civilian cross the border on foot in July.

Following months of political unrest, which began with the conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol’s flimsy attempt to impose martial law in December, liberal politician Lee Jae-myung became president of South Korea four months after taking office.

Kim Jong Un’s predecessor, Lee, has a different perspective on the North Korean leader, promising to “open a communication channel with North Korea and establish peace on the Korean Peninsula through talks and cooperation.”