North Korean defects to South by crossing border, says Seoul military

A North Korean defector crossed the heavily fortified border into South Korea by walking across the peninsula's dividing line, Seoul's military reported on Tuesday (Aug 20).

Since the peninsula was divided by war in the 1950s, tens of thousands of North Koreans have fled to South Korea but the majority crosses the land border into China first.

Preliminary figures from the unification ministry show this year until June some 105 people defected.
Seoul's military said it picked up one alleged North Korean individual on the eastern front and handed them over to the relevant authorities".

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According to Yonhap news agency, the defector was a staff sergeant who received some guidance from South Korea's military during the defection.

The number of defections has significantly decreased since 2020 after North Korea sealed its borders to prevent the spread of COVID-19, reportedly issuing shoot-on-sight orders along the land frontier with China.

However, after border controls eased in 2023, the number of defections rose with 196 making it to the South last year.

According to local media reports, the latest defector walked along the road by the waterfront in eastern Gangwon province, and was wearing a North Korean military uniform when picked up by authorities.

This marks the second time this month that someone has crossed the de facto maritime border in the Yellow Sea. The first incident occurred on August 8.

This comes as relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points in years, with the North ramping up weapons testing and bombarding the South with trash-carrying balloons.

A professor at Ewha Woman's University, Park Won-gon said a rise in defections suggested the internal situation is bad in North Korea.

In retaliation for North Korea's trash balloon campaign, Seoul scrapped a military tension-reduction agreement and resumed border propaganda.

Such campaigns can take months to have any impact on defections, Park said.

"Turning on the loudspeaker doesn't mean the North Koreans are going to defect to the South right away," Park said.

(With inputs from agencies)