North Korean Teen Defects To South Across Demilitarized Zone

Seoul has said the man — presumed to be a serviceman — walked across one of the world's most heavily militarized borders — the first time someone has done so since 2012.

A teenage North Korean soldier defected to South Korea across the heavily militarized border between the nations, Seoul said Monday.

Chung Sung-jun / Getty Images

North Korean soldiers look to the South across the DMZ in Dec. 2011.

A South Korean National Ministry of Defense official — speaking on the condition of anonymity — said: "A North Korean man presumed to be a serviceperson defected to our side earlier this morning," South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported.

The official added the man "crossed the border in Hwacheon, Gangwon Province, on foot, and expressed his will to defect," and that he was currently under investigation by the relevant authorities.

The BBC reported that there was no exchange of fire when he made the crossing.

The man's identity and motive are not yet known, Yonhap said.

It is extremely difficult and rare for people to cross the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between the two nations — one of the most heavily fortified borders on the planet. The last time someone was able to do it was 2012, when a North Korean soldier was able to cross without detection, causing the South major embarrassment, the BBC said.

Of the some 28,000 defectors from North to South Korea, the vast majority left through the comparatively porous northern border with China, rather than through the 155 mile-long, wire-fenced DMZ, which is lined with thousands of service personnel on both sides, and filled with land mines.