How North Korean soldier defected – by floating down river across DMZ

A North Korean soldier defected to South Korea across the heavily fortified demilitarized zone between the two nations. The unnamed soldier was spotted floating south down the Imjin River across the Military Demarcation Line around 11:38 p.m. last Wednesday night, when the South Korean military took him into custody.

“A South Korean soldier on guard duty first found an unidentified object floating in the river via thermal observation devices, which was later confirmed as a [an active-duty North Korean] soldier,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap.

Very few have successfully defected across the DMZ, one of the most fortified borders in the world where land mines, barbed wire, and a militarized strip of no man’s land make the journey nearly impossible.

This entry was posted in Humanitarian Aid and Relief, North Korean refugee by Grant Montgomery.