The Joint Chiefs of Staff said that on the morning of the 19th, it secured the New Recruit after one North Korean soldier crossed the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) on the central front and expressed an intention to defect.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff said, "The military identified and tracked and monitored the defector in the MDL area and secured the New Recruit through a normal guidance operation," and added, "Relevant agencies plan to investigate the detailed process of moving south."
The soldier was found in the southern area of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) south of the MDL. When a South Korean military guidance team asked, "This is a Republic of Korea soldier. For what purpose did you come?", the soldier expressed an intention to defect, and the South Korean military then secured the New Recruit and handed the person over to relevant agencies. No unusual movements by North Korean forces have been reported so far.
This is the third defection case since the launch of the Lee Jae-myung administration, but it is the first time that a soldier has defected.
Earlier, one male resident crossed the MDL on the midwestern front on July 3, and on the 31st of the same month, another male resident was rescued in the area south of the median line in the Han River neutral waters. A North Korean military defection has occurred for the first time in about one year and two months.
On Aug. 20 last year, a North Korean staff sergeant crossed the Military Demarcation Line in the Goseong area of Gangwon Province and defected.