South Korean Military Arrests Border Breakers From North Korea In Demilitarized Zone

Korean DMZ. (Source: WIkimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - The South Korean military announced it had made the arrest of a North Korean individual who crossed the heavily fortified border without permission, Tuesday, February 16 local time.

This border breach is said to have the potential for defection, amid the prolonged lockdown in North Korea related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The person was found Tuesday morning near a checkpoint on the eastern side of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that separates the two Koreas. This has led to an urgent search operation," a South Korean military Joint Chief of Staff (JCS) statement told Reuters.

"We have detained the unidentified individual and are conducting an investigation for investigation purposes," the statement continued.

North Korea is known to have imposed a prolonged lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw the number of defectors arriving in South Korea last year the lowest in history.

"About 200 North Koreans settled in the South last year, down about 80 percent from 2019," said Unification Minister Lee In-young, citing the closure of the country's closed borders in January 2020.

The last case that the public knew about was in November last year, when a North Korean man defected to the South via the eastern DMZ.

Cross-border relations have deteriorated after denuclearization talks between Pyongyang and Washington have stalled since 2019. The row broke out in September, after North Korean troops shot dead a South Korean fisheries official who was lost at sea, sparking public and political upheaval in the South.

In July, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declared a state of emergency and closed a border town after someone with COVID-19 symptoms illegally crossed the border from south to north.

It is known that North Korea has not confirmed any cases of COVID-19, something that Seoul doubts given the active relations between North Korea and China, where the corona virus first emerged.