South fires warning shots after North soldier defects

SEOUL: South Korean soldiers fired 20 warning machine gun rounds, turning back North Korean soldiers apparently pursuing a comrade who had earlier dashed across the rivals’ shared border, officials said.

It is the fourth time this year that a North Korean soldier has defected across the world’s most heavily armed border.

South Korean military officials said they heard gunfire from the North after South Korea fired its warning shots yesterday, but it was not clear if the firing was retaliatory.

Neither side immediately reported casualties.

North Korean soldiers occasionally flee over the land border, but there have been few defections as dramatic as one that happened nearly 40 days ago, when a Northern soldier crossed at a different, very public place – a jointly controlled area that is the only place where troops from the rivals face off only feet away from each other.

That soldier was shot five times by his former comrades in an escape caught on video. He is now recovering in a hospital.

The site of that defection is familiar to many foreign tourists, who can visit the blue huts that straddle the line between the rivals.

Yesterday’s defection happened at a much more remote section of the 4km-wide, 248km-long Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), which serves as the border between the Koreas.

When the defecting soldier – reportedly a 19-year-old – arrived at a frontline South Korean guard post, there was no shooting from the North, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Spokesman Roh Jae-cheon said the motive for the defection was under investigation.

Later yesterday, South Korea’s military detected a few North Korean soldiers approaching the line between the countries in the DMZ, prompting the South to broadcast a warning and fire 20 warning shots, said a South Korean defence official.

The North Korean soldiers who approached the line were believed to be on a mission to hunt down their defecting comrade. — AP