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ARCHIVE – South Korean soldiers patrol along the barbed-wire fence in Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea. South Korea announced on Friday that a North Korean had crossed the border. Photo: Ahn Young-joon/AP/dpa
Keystone
A North Korean soldier appears to have crossed the heavily secured inter-Korean border into South Korea early Wednesday morning. He was taken into custody by authorities there, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said, according to the official Yonhap News Agency. According to the report, the soldier is said to have expressed his intention to defect to South Korea. Further details of the case are currently under investigation, officials said. It has not been confirmed whether this was a deliberate escape by the soldier.
The two neighboring countries are separated by a heavily fortified, virtually impenetrable surveillance zone along the demarcation line. According to reports, the North Korean’s recent border crossing is the first such case this year.
There are now over 30,000 North Koreans living in South Korea who have fled their largely isolated homeland, which is subject to international sanctions. In most cases, this occurs via the northern border into China, from where refugees then travel to South Korea via a third country. Crossing the inter-Korean border, however, is extremely rare. South Korea grants citizenship to North Koreans after a thorough review—a move the North views as an affront.
North and South Korea are still formally at war. Although an armistice was signed after the Korean War (1950–53), no peace treaty was ever concluded.
24.06.2026, 07:22
