Another North Korean soldier has defected at the demilitarized zone

North Korean soldiers in the DMZ.
(Image credit: AFP/Getty Images)

On Thursday, a North Korean soldier raced across the heavily armed demilitarized zone and defected to South Korea, the fourth soldier to do so this year.

The soldier, believed to be 19, chose to cross at a more remote portion of the border between the two Koreas. After the defection, the South Korean military noticed there were several North Korean soldiers coming toward the line separating the countries in the DMZ, and they fired 20 warning shots, a defense official told The Associated Press. The official said they were likely searching for the defector, and they turned around after the shots were fired.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.