N Korea military officer defects to S Korea

>> SEOUL: A North Korean military officer, accompanied by a civilian, defected to the South across the Yellow Sea yesterday, a South Korean news report said, citing a government source.

“A small boat was spotted in waters off the north of Baengnyeong Island” near the inter-Korean border, the source told Yonhap news agency, adding that the officer, who holds the rank of major, and a civilian were aboard the vessel.

“They expressed willingness to defect,” he said.

A Korean Coast Guard official said relevant authorities were investigating the case, declining to give details.

The defection was the 14th involving a North Korean soldier since 2000.

The last defection by a North Korean military officer took place in 2008, YTN TV said.

It is the first defection by any North Korean since a historic summit between the two Koreas which saw their leaders agree to pursue the denuclearisation of the peninsula.

In November last year, a North Korean soldier drove to the heavily-guarded border at speed and ran across under a hail of bullets from his own side.

In 2012 a North Korean soldier walked unchecked through rows of electrified fencing and surveillance cameras, prompting Seoul to sack three field commanders for a security lapse.

In June of last year, two of four crew members on a North Korean fishing boat which drifted to the South refused to return home and they were allowed resettle in the South.

A month later, five North Koreans in another small boat crossed the sea border into South Korean waters and expressed their wish to live in the South.