North Korean man crosses sea boundary to escape to South

North Korean troops laying mines around a railway connecting to the South in December last year. (South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff)

A North Korean escaped to the South last month despite Pyongyang closing inter-Korean paths and fortifying areas around the line dividing the Korean Peninsula.

According to the South Korean military on Friday, a North Korean man crossed the maritime boundary in the sea west of the country on a small wooden boat in the early hours of Sept. 17.

The South Korean military said it captured the man sailing by himself after guiding him over to the south of the boundary.

This marks the third known North Korean defection to the South in the last three months, at least one of whom was a member of the Pyongyang armed forces.

On Aug. 20, a member of the North Korean military reached South Korea by crossing the military demarcation line.

Rep. Boo Seung-chan, former Defense Ministry spokesperson, told The Korea Herald crossing the line between the North and South was a “very unusual” route of defection.

“You would have to know where the land mines are, and dodge high surveillance in the areas,” he said. In most cases, North Koreans would choose to get here through a third country.

Kim Myung-soo, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chief, told lawmakers Thursday that North Korea removed the roads and railways connected to the South and began fortifying the border areas, which included laying mines.

The JCS chief said North Korea’s border fortifications seemed to be aimed at “supporting Kim Jong-un’s two Koreas rhetoric” and “tightening internal controls and blocking ways out of the country.”

The remarks from the JCS chief came after the North Korean army on Wednesday notified the United Nations Command of plans for the construction along the demarcation line.

On the North Korean announcement, Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told a press briefing Thursday that the US was maintaining “frequent communications with our Republic of Korea allies.”

“As for why the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) may choose to do something as it relates to communicating items like that, I refer you to them,” he said.