South Korean killed attempting to cross into North Korea

South Korean soldiers on Monday shot and killed a man they believed was trying to cross into North Korea at the heavily armed border, officials said.

A man dressed in civilian clothes ignored guards’ warnings to return to South Korea and was shot after he jumped into the Imjin River, which runs through the border. The incident occurred near the western portion of the border in Paju, north of Seoul.

The man was first seen near a wire fence near the river. Border guards told him to turn back, but he ignored them and went into a part of the river where there was no wire fence, the officials said. It was later found that he had tied buoys around himself and was carrying cookies, officials said.

The man’s South Korean passport identified him as Nam Young-ho,  born in 1966, and deported from Japan in June.

South Koreans have previously tried to defect to the impoverished, authoritarian country, but it is rare. North Korea’s state media made no immediate comment about the shooting.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized by Grant Montgomery.