Rare, South Koreans Defect to North Korea

SEOUL – A citizen South Korea (South Korea) has crossed the heavily fortified border in rare defections to North Korea (North Korea). This was announced by the South Korean military, Sunday (2/1/2022).

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it carried out a search operation after detecting the person at around 9:20 p.m. local time on Saturday on the eastern side of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that separates the two Koreas.

“We have confirmed that the person crossed the border of the Military Demarcation Line at around 22:40 p.m. and defect to (Korea) North,” the JCS said as quoted by Metro.us.

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The JCS said it could not confirm whether the man was still alive, but sent a notification to North Korea via a military hotline asking for protection.

The border crossing, which is illegal in South Korea, comes as North Korea has implemented strict anti-coronavirus measures since closing the border in early 2020, although it has yet to confirm any infections.

Public and political furor emerged after North Korean troops shot dead a South Korean fishing official who went missing at sea in September 2020, with Pyongyang blaming anti-virus rules and apologizing.

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Two months earlier, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared a state of national emergency and closed the border town after a North Korean defector he said had COVID-19 symptoms illegally crossed the border into the North from the South.

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