MILITARY CAPTURES BORDER CROSSER

SEOUL South Korea's military said on Tuesday it had captured a North Korean man who crossed the heavily fortified border between the two countries and was investigating whether he tried to defect.

The man was found about 4:20 a.m. local time near a checkpoint on the eastern end of the Demilitarized Zone separating the rival Koreas, and was taken into custody after a three-hour search, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

“He is presumed to be a North Korean and we're conducting an investigation into details, including how he had come down and whether he wished to defect,” the JCS said in a statement.

There was no unusual movement across the border but the military is reviewing its security posture in the region, it added.

The rare border crossing came as North Korea's prolonged lockdowns rolled back the number of defectors arriving in South Korea to an all-time low last year.