(Bloomberg) -- A North Korean soldier thought to be a staff sergeant crossed the heavily armed border dividing the peninsula, in the second known defection to South Korea in less than two weeks.
The individual, clad in a military uniform, crossed the eastern border early Tuesday, Yonhap News and other South Korean media reported, citing defense officials. South Korea’s defense ministry did not immediately have a comment.
Earlier this month, a North Korean civilian crossed a river estuary that runs between the two neighbors to defect to South Korea, Yonhap said.
Both defections have taken place since South Korea in mid-July resumed loudspeaker broadcasts at the border, which have blared news about Kim Jong Un’s regime into secretive North Korea, along with items such as K-pop music. South Korean authorities typically question upon arrival those who appear to have crossed directly from North Korea.
Making an actual land crossing through the DMZ from North Korea poses enormous risks. These include avoiding fields of landmines and possibly being fired upon by soldiers from North Korea, whose official media often refers to defectors as “human scum.”
Tensions between the rivals have been on the rise since late May when North Korea began sending thousands of balloons carrying trash over the border after complaining about South Korea conducting surveillance flights. South Korea, in response, suspended a 2018 agreement with North Korea aimed at reducing military tensions.
On at least three occasions since June, South Korean troops fired warning shots at North Korean soldiers working in the 4-kilometer-wide (2.5-mile-wide) Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) buffer that divides the peninsula who briefly crossed the actual border in the center. The soldiers in all the instances quickly retreated to the North Korean side, South Korea’s military said.
The North Korean soldiers inside the DMZ have been planting mines, setting up anti-tank barriers and repairing roads, according to the South Korean military. North and South Korea have positioned hundreds of thousands of troops and massive amounts of weapons near the border, raising worries that a flare-up between the two countries could escalate.
Almost all the North Koreans who defect cross first into China and then seek passage through a third country instead of trying to directly enter South Korea.
But in one notable case that involved a different country, a senior North Korean diplomat based in Cuba defected to South Korea in November, becoming one of the highest-level diplomats in recent years to leave the reclusive state for its rival.
The number of defectors to South Korea has dropped sharply from a peak of 2,914 in 2009 as China and North Korea have clamped down on the border and Kim sealed off the country during the Covid-19 pandemic. As of June of this year, there were 105 people who defected to South Korea, according to data from its Unification Ministry.
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