A North Korean soldier defected to South Korea across the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone​ on Sunday, South Korea's military said.

A North Korean soldier defected to South Korea across the rivals’ heavily fortified border on Sunday, South Korea’s military said.

The military took custody of the soldier who crossed the central portion of the land border, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. It said the soldier expressed a desire to resettle in South Korea.

It was the first reported defection by a North Korean soldier since a North Korean staff sergeant fled to South Korea via the border’s eastern section in August 2024.

  • MrNesserEnglish
    18·
    11 hours ago

    It’s going to be a massive shell shock seeing the south and comparing it to his previous life.

    Hope he didn’t leave any family behind.

    • frongt@lemmy.zipEnglish
      19·
      10 hours ago

      It’s a huge shock. A number of defectors actually return to NK because they’ve been institutionalized and can’t handle it.

      • shalafiEnglish
        7·
        7 hours ago

        Same reason guys get out of prison and get themselves right back in.

        Dear Fellas. I can’t believe how fast things move on the outside. I saw an automobile once when I was a kid, but now they’re everywhere. The world went and got itself in a big damn hurry. The parole board got me into this halfway house called the Brewer, and a job bagging groceries at the Food-Way. It’s hard work. I try to keep up, but my hands hurt most of the time. I don’t think the store manager likes me very much. Sometimes after work I go to the park and feed the birds. I keep thinking Jake might just show up and say hello. But he never does. I hope wherever he is, he’s doing okay and making new friends. I have trouble sleeping at night. I have – bad dreams, like I’m falling. I wake up scared. Sometimes it takes me a while to remember where I am. Maybe I should get me a gun and rob the Food-Way, so they’d send me home. I could shoot the manager while I was at it, sort of like a bonus. I guess I’m too old for that sort of nonsense anymore. I don’t like it here. I’m tired of being afraid all the time. I’ve decided not to stay. I doubt they’ll kick up any fuss. Not for an old crook like me.

  • shalafiEnglish
    1·
    7 hours ago

    So all 155 miles of the border is walled and patrolled? I know there’s a heavily trapped DMZ, 2.5 miles wide, but for all 155 miles? How does that work?

    I obviously have zero experience, but I would think a healthy, well equipped person could easily find a hole.

    • frongt@lemmy.zipEnglish
      51·
      6 hours ago

      a healthy, well equipped person

      So not your average North Korean, then.

    • phdepressed@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      3·
      6 hours ago

      1. Geography limits your options of where to cross.

      2. Survival equipment is difficult to obtain or learn usage of discretely.

      It isn’t like they can just buy camping gear and walk the length of the dmz during vacation to find a weak point.

  • ilinamoratoEnglish
    36·
    8 hours ago

    “Rival” is definitely the wrong word here, right? That implies that they, like, steal each others’ mascots and compete in a big football game for some dubious prize once a year. If Alabama and Auburn literally shot anyone traveling between the two of them, that’d be one thing, but this is not a “rivalry.” It’s a cold war.