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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A North Korean soldier defected to South Korea on Sunday across the rivals’ heavily fortified border, the South Korean military said.
The military arrested the soldier who crossed the central part of the land border, according to a statement from South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. The soldier expressed his desire to settle in South Korea, according to the statement.
This is the first reported defection of a North Korean soldier since a North Korean sergeant fled to South Korea across the eastern part of the border in August 2024.
Despite the two border crossings, it is not common for North Koreans to cross the land border.
Despite its official name, the Demilitarized Zone, the 248 kilometers (155 miles) long and four kilometers (2.5 miles) wide border is guarded by landmines, tank traps, barbed wire and combat troops. In 2017, when a fleeing North Korean soldier ran across the border, North Korean soldiers fired about 40 bullets before South Korean soldiers could carry the injured soldier to safety.
The vast majority of the approximately 34,000 North Koreans who have fled to South Korea since the end of the Korean War (1950-1953) have done so via China, which shares a long and porous border with North Korea.
Relations between the two Koreas remain tense. North Korea has repeatedly rebuffed overtures from progressive South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, who took office in June promising to revive reconciliation efforts between the rivals.
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This story was translated from English by an AP editor using a generative artificial intelligence tool.
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