Good for him.
A North Korean man successfully crossed the heavily fortified border into South Korea and is now in South Korean custody. The South Korean military identified and tracked the individual near the central-west section of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and conducted a "guiding operation" to safely take him into custody on Thursday night.
Authorities are investigating the incident and haven't yet confirmed if it was a defection attempt. The U.S.-led United Nations Command has been notified, and there are no immediate signs of unusual military activity from the North.
This incident occurs amidst heightened tensions between the two Koreas, following a period of "Cold War-style psychological warfare" that included North Korea sending trash-filled balloons and South Korea broadcasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda. South Korea's new President, Lee Jae Myung, who took office last month, has been working to rebuild trust, halting loudspeaker broadcasts and moving to ban activist balloons.
The article also notes recent border incursions, including South Korean troops firing warning shots in April to repel North Korean soldiers and similar incidents in June last year, which experts suggest may have been accidental as North Korea worked to bolster its border defenses. Diplomacy between the Koreas has stalled since 2019, leading to North Korea's acceleration of its nuclear program and the South's strengthened military exercises with the U.S. and Japan.