"South Korean media described the crossing near the central part of the border as a defection, with the Chosun Ilbo daily saying the soldier expressed his wish to defect after being approached by a South Korean soldier. If confirmed, the soldier would join tens of thousands of North Koreans who have fled poverty and repression in North Korea since the peninsula was split by war in the 1950s."
"Last year, 236 North Koreans arrived in the South, with women accounting for 88 percent of the total. The last time a soldier from North Korea, which derides defectors as human scum, escaped to the South was in August last year. Most defectors, however, take a different route escaping across North Korea's border with China before eventually making their way to the South."
A North Korean soldier crossed the military demarcation line into South Korea on Sunday and was taken into custody after South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff tracked and monitored him before securing him. South Korea's military said it will investigate the circumstances of the crossing in the mine-strewn border zone, a relatively rare incident between the two nations still technically at war. South Korean media reported the soldier expressed a wish to defect after being approached by a South Korean soldier. If confirmed, he would join tens of thousands who have fled North Korea; most escape via China. Analysts warned the crossing risks revealing troop movements and will anger Pyongyang.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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