N Korean defector undetected for hours after swimming to South, caught after falling asleep

SEOUL: A North Korean defector wore a diving suit and fins during a daring six-hour swim around one of the world’s most fortified borders, a Seoul official said, and was caught only after apparently falling asleep.

South Korean forces did not spot the man’s audacious exploit despite him appearing several times on CCTV after he landed and triggering alarms, drawing heavy criticism from the media and opposition MPs.

Even after his presence was noticed, the man - who used diving gear to make his way by sea around the Demilitarized Zone that divides the peninsula - was not caught for another three hours.

The man, reportedly in his 20s, landed north of the town of Goseong on the east coast.

“He presumably had swum for about six hours, wearing a padded jacket inside a diving suit and fins. His clothing appeared to have kept him warm and allowed him to stay afloat,” an unnamed Joint Chiefs of Staff official was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency on Tuesday.

Tidal currents worked in his favour, the official said, and he abandoned most of his equipment before making his way through a drainage channel under the barbed-wire fences that run along the coast.

Over more than three hours surveillance cameras caught him eight times, audible alarms sounding twice, but border guards did not notice.

Eventually, a manhunt was launched, and troops found him three hours later, apparently asleep, his facemask hanging in a tree.

Officials say that the man, presumed to have been a civilian in the North, has expressed a desire to defect.

The military acknowledged troops had “failed to abide by due procedures” and vowed to strengthen border security.

In a parliamentary hearing on Tuesday, defence minister Suh Wook acknowledged that surveillance systems in the area were “malfunctioning and outdated”.