North Korean soldier defects across heavily guarded border to South Korea

“The soldier expressed a desire to resettle in South Korea,” the statement said.

This is the first known case of a North Korean soldier defecting across the land border since August 2024, when a North Korean staff sergeant crossed through the eastern section of the frontier.

‘Border crossings by land are rare’

The DMZ, despite its name, is one of the most heavily guarded borders in the world. The 248-kilometre-long and 4-kilometre-wide strip is lined with land mines, barbed wire fences, tank traps and armed troops on both sides.

In 2017, a North Korean soldier was seriously wounded after being shot about 40 times while running across the same border before South Korean soldiers pulled him to safety.

Most North Koreans who flee the country travel through China, which shares a long and porous border with the North. Since the end of the 1950–53 Korean War, about 34,000 North Koreans have resettled in the South, according to official data cited by AP.

‘Relations remain tense’

Relationship between the two Koreas remain tense. North Korea has repeatedly dismissed diplomatic efforts by South Korea’s liberal President Lee Jae Myung, who took office in June promising to restore dialogue and reconciliation between the neighbours.

So far, Pyongyang has rejected Seoul’s outreach, continuing its military drills and harsh rhetoric against the South.