South Korean military reports rare border crossing into North Korea

South Korean military announced on Sunday that an unidentified person crossed its heavily fortified northern border into North Korea, media reports suggest. The crossing has reportedly marked a rare defection.

According to reports from the Associated Press citing the Joint Chiefs of Staff officers, the individual was carrying surveillance equipment and was spotted at the eastern portion of the border. Even though the forces scrambled to capture the person, the troops returned empty-handed.

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The border crossing has been internationally acknowledged by South Korea, however, North Korea is yet to respond to a message linked to ensuring the safety of the person.

In September 2020, North Korea fatally shot a South Korean fisheries official found floating in its waters in line with what Seoul called strict anti-virus rules that involve shooting anyone illegally crossing the border.

Earlier in 2020, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un placed a border city under total lockdown after a North Korean defector with COVID-19-like symptoms sneaked back home. The fate of that defector, who had lived in South Korea, is not known, according to reports from Associated Press.

On Saturday, North Korea announced it had decided to place top priority on strict virus restrictions at a high-profile ruling party meeting last week.

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The two Koreas are split along the world’s most heavily armed border, called the Demilitarized Zone. An estimated 2 million mines are peppered inside and near the 248-kilometer (155-mile) -long, 4-kilometer (2.5-mile) -wide DMZ, which is also guarded by barbed wire fences, tank traps and combat troops on both sides.

About 34,000 North Koreans have defected to South Korea since the late 1990s to avoid poverty or political oppression, but a vast majority of them have come via China and Southeast Asian countries. Some South Koreans have tried to defect to the impoverished, authoritarian North, but it is rare.

(With AP inputs)