North Korean soldier stable, but riddled with parasites

SEOUL: A North Korean soldier shot multiple times while defecting to the South is in a stable condition but riddled with parasites that could complicate his chances of survival, his doctor said yesterday.

The soldier dashed across the border at the Panmunjom truce village on Monday, as former comrades from the North opened fire on him, hitting him at least four times.

He was pulled to safety by three South Korean soldiers who crawled to reach him, just south of the dividing line.

The young man was rushed to hospital in South Korea by helicopter where he has undergone two rounds of emergency surgery.

“Vital signs including his pulse are returning to stability”, attending doctor Lee Cook- Jong told journalists.

However, he warned, the unnamed soldier could rapidly deteriorate at any moment.

“We’re paying close attention to prevent possible complications,” said Lee, who on Wednesday said ‘an enormous number of parasites’ including roundworms had been found in the small intestine.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in my 20 years as a physician”, he said, adding the longest worm he removed was 27 centimetres.

Parasites, especially roundworms, are widespread in North Korea — as they are in many developing countries — where people eat uncooked vegetables that have been fertilised with human faeces, experts say.

They were also common in South Korea until the 1980s when the country was wealthier and the use of commercial fertilisers became widespread.

“The contamination... was very severe, and the future course of his medical condition is likely to be worse than that of general trauma patients as he was in a state of shock for a long while due to massive bleeding,” he said.

South Korean officials have said that troops from the North fired at least 40 rounds. — AFP