Former Defector Tries to Ram Bus Through the DMZ

This wasn’t a very well thought out plan because it had no chance of ever working:

A former defector, unhappy with life in the South, stole a 25-seat shuttle bus this week and attempted to cross a bridge into North Korea before he was apprehended by guards. The defector, 35, was caught at 12:55 a.m. Monday on the Tongil Bridge, or Unification Bridge, in Paju city, by South Korean military guards and turned over to civilian police, according to military and police spokespeople Tuesday.

Privacy laws prohibit authorities from publicly identifying most people under arrest in South Korea. The defector was held on suspicion of theft and violating the National Security Act, a police spokesman said. The defector found the key to the minibus in a company garage in Munsan town, crawled through a window near the driver’s seat and drove nearly three miles to the bridge’s south checkpoint, a spokesman for North Gyeonggi Provincial Police said by phone.

The lane toward the checkpoint was heavily guarded, so the unidentified defector drove in the opposing lane onto the bridge, the spokesman said. Bypassing the checkpoint and ignoring guards trying to stop him, the defector drove another 900 yards before hitting a barricade in front of the north checkpoint, where soldiers stopped him, the spokesman said.

Stars & Stripes

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