North Korean soldier defected to South Korea across heavily fortified border

(Patria) - A North Korean soldier defected to South Korea on Sunday across the rival nation's heavily fortified border, the South Korean military said, AP reported.

The military took custody of the soldier who crossed the central part of the land border, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said. It was stated that the soldier expressed a desire to settle in South Korea.

This was 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.

Although there are two border crossings, it is not common for North Koreans to defect across the land border.

Despite its official name, the Demilitarized Zone, the 248-kilometer-long and 4-kilometer-wide border is guarded by landmines, tank traps, barbed wire, and combat troops.

When a North Korean soldier fleeing in 2017 ran across the border, North Korean soldiers fired about forty shots before South Korean soldiers managed to drag the wounded 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, which lasted from 1950 to 1953, have come via China, which shares a long, porous border with North Korea.