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North Korean soldiers look southward at the Joint Security Area in Panmunjeom
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South Korean troops fired warning shots at a search party that pursued the defector
A North Korean soldier defected to the South over the central western front line on the morning of Dec. 21. North Korean troops attempted to search for the defector but returned after warning shots were fired by the South Korean side. “A junior North Korean soldier defected at approximately 8:04 this morning in front of a [Demilitarized Zone] guard post in the region of Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi Province, on the center-western front,” a Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) officer told reporters that day, adding that the “relevant agencies are investigating the reasons and circumstances of the defection.” The soldier was carrying an AK rifle, the personal weapon for North Korean troops. Local weather conditions were heavily foggy at the time of the defection, limiting vision to the range of 100 meters, the officer said. “Guard soldiers detected the defecting soldier through surveillance equipment and guided the defection under normal procedures,” the officer said. Around one hour after the defection, South Korean forces observed a small group of North Korean troops approaching the DMZ’s Military Demarcation Line (MDL). “Based on the way they were looking around, they appeared to be involved in a search operation. As they approached, a warning broadcast was issue according to procedure at around 9:24 am, and 20 K-3 machine gun rounds were fired as warning shots,” said the officer. The North Korean troops immediately withdrew. “After the North Korean forces withdrew, several rounds of gunfire were heard from the North twice, at 10:13 and 10:16 am,” the official said, adding that “no additional response action was taken, as there were no signs of bullet holes or damage on our side.” The North Korean troops appeared to have been searching for the soldier who had defected. The latest defection comes over one month after North Korean soldier Oh Chang-song defected on Nov. 13 by way of the Joint Security Area (JSA) at Panmunjeom. According to Ministry of Unification data, a total of nine defections involving 15 people this year took place directly from North Korea to the South without going through a third country; soldiers represented four of the defection cases. Last year saw a total of three direct defections involving five people, one of whom was a soldier. By Park Byong-su, senior staff writer Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
