South Korea Secures North Korean Soldiers Crossing Borders

North Korea-South Korea Border. (Wikimedia Commons//Republic of Korea Armed Forces)

JAKARTA - A North Korean soldier has been detained after crossing a heavily fortified border on Sunday, said Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), the first known defection from a Pyongyang soldier since President Lee Jae-myung's Administration.

"The military on Sunday secured the detainee of a North Korean soldier crossing the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) in the middle of the border," the JCS said.

South Korean forces detected and tracked the army to carry out normal operations to help the person arrive in South Korea, with relevant authorities investigating the motive and how the defection occurred.

"So far no unusual movement by the North Korean military has been detected," explained JCS.

This latest defect marks the third case since June, when President Lee's Administration was elected. Two previous cases involving civilians occurred in July.

The last known North Korean military defection to South Korea occurred in August last year, when a staff sergeant crossed the MDL by walking south via a footpath along the east coast.

It is known that as many as 236 North Koreans defected to South Korea last year, with only three of them crossing the inter-Korean border, according to an Unification Ministry official.