Man Guided Out of DMZ in 20-Hour Operation

A North Korean man made a rare direct crossing into South Korea this week, the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) announced Friday. He was spotted by military surveillance equipment between 3am and 4am Thursday close to a shallow stream within the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). According to the JCS, the man moved little during the day, ostensibly to avoid detection, though it was challenging to track him at times due to the density of the forest.

South Korean troops activated at night and made contact with the man near the Military Demarcation Line—essentially the border. They guided him across the line and out of the DMZ in what was a 20-hour operation (following the time of detection, per Stars and Stripes) that required troops to make their way through dense vegetation and areas with landmines, reports Deutsche Welle. The AP reports South Korean authorities say they will investigate the border crossing and did not immediately indicate whether they consider the incident a defection attempt.

Since the 1950s, roughly 34,000 North Koreans have defected to the South, but the vast majority take a more roundabout path than attempting to cross the heavily fortified and monitored border: They first enter China and then travel through a third country, such as Thailand, to reach South Korea. The man's identity and motives have not been disclosed, though the head of the World Institute for North Korea Studies, himself a defector, speculates to AFP that the man is likely a farmer who worked near the DMZ. "The lush summer vegetation within the DMZ likely offered the best cover for a high-risk escape," Ahn Chan-il added.