North Korean defects, crossing into South Korea, one of the most fortified borders in the world. Image credit: Philstar.com.
(The Post News) – A North Korean defector was arrested by South Korea on Sunday after voluntarily crossing the heavily militarized border separating the two Koreas, Seoul’s military confirmed.
“It was our armed forces that apprehended in custody one North Korean soldier who had crossed the MDL in the central front on Sunday,” the JCS made a statement. “The armed forces apprehended the individual near the MDL, tracked and followed him, and conducted a routine guidance operation to take him into custody.” A Defence Ministry official told AFP that the soldier was attempting to “defect to the South.”
Rare Crossing Through the Demilitarized Zone
The government is now investigating the motive and circumstances of the defection, and the man will be handed over to Seoul’s spy agency for screening, standard procedure for North Korean defectors. Defections across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), one of the most mined and monitored locations on earth, are rare. The 248-kilometer (155-mile) border is protected with barbed wire, tank traps, and vigilant systems.
The fact that the soldier would have known the ground, being a soldier himself, might have also helped him in navigating through the heavily mined ground,” said Hong Min, senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification. “The crossing will not be accepted by Pyongyang because he could provide the South with inside information on troop movements and activities along the border.”
Most defectors leave through China first, then through a third country such as Thailand to arrive in South Korea. Over 34,000 have defected since the Korean War of 1950–53, Seoul’s Unification Ministry says. A total of 236 North Koreans defected last year, 88% of whom were women.
Previous Defections
The incident represents the first reported military defection since President Lee Jae Myung took office in June. Lee promised a gentler touch towards Pyongyang than his predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol and promised at the United Nations in September to end the “vicious cycle” of tensions between the two Koreas.
The defection follows a string of high-level border incidents. In August 2024, a North Korean defected from the other side of the MDL in Goseong County, and in July 2025, a North Korean civilian defected into the South following a complex 20-hour rescue operation by South Korean troops.
Despite such events, relations between Pyongyang and Seoul are strained. North Korea continues to shun attempts by the South and denounces defectors as “human scum.” Technically, the two Koreas remain at war because the Korean War ended only in an armistice and not a peace treaty.
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