The Fourth North Korean Soldier This Year Defects Across the DMZ

Yet another North Korean soldier has defected across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and this time it was not as dramatic as the November defection at the JSA:

A North Korean soldier defected to South Korea across the mid-western border Thursday, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

“A low-ranking soldier defected to our GP (guard post) across the mid-western border at 8:04 a.m.,” a JCS official said, asking not to be named.

The latest defection came about 40 days after another North Korean soldier fled to the South through the Joint Security Area (JSA) at the truce village of Panmunjeom.

The JCS said the GP occupants identified the soldier coming toward the South through surveillance equipment, adding that the soldier carried an AK-47 assault rifle.

“Relevant bodies will conduct an investigation into how and why the soldier defected to the South,” the official said.

No shots were exchanged between the two Koreas during the soldier’s defection; but South Korean troops fired 20 warning rounds from K-3 machine guns at 9:24 a.m. when North Korean border guards approached the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) while searching for the soldier who defected.

“The North’s border guards stopped approaching the MDL after our warning shots,” the official said.

At 10:13 a.m. and 10:16 a.m., shots were heard from the North, but there was no damage on the South Korean side, the official added.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but I would not be surprised if the shots heard from the North were executions of the officers responsible for the soldier who defected.  The same thing happened after the Russian student defected during the 1984 JSA Shootout.

This defection is the fourth this year by a North Korean soldier.  Prior to these defections there were four defections of North Korean soldiers in the past 5 years.

Coincidentally on the same day two North Korean fishermen defected across the East Sea as well.  They were picked up to the north of Dokdo.  That makes 15 North Korean defections this year across the DMZ or maritime border compared to 5 last year.  The numbers may be up this year of defecting across the border, but the numbers are still too low to draw any hard conclusions.  I guess we will see what happens in 2018.