North Korean Defector Makes Wild Escape Across Giant Minefield
The process to guide the man to safety took soldiers from the South 20 hours.
Contributor/Getty Images
A North Korean defector dodged a shoot-on-sight order, armed guards, and dozens of land mines to cross one of the most militarized borders in the world. The civilian crossed into South Korea after hiding under bushes along the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), in the midwestern section of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on the Korean border. He was spotted by South Korean troops on Thursday morning hiding in a stream, at around 3 a.m., and guided safely through the minefield for screening. This process took 20 hours. The man has since been detained. “We secured the individual through a normal procedure to guide the individual, and relevant authorities plan to investigate the detailed process (in crossing the border) to the South,” said South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is the first defector since a North Korean soldier high-tailed it over the border a year ago, in the eastern county of Goseong.
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