The individual was detected by monitoring equipment in the “demilitarized zone”. The crossings in this direction of the ultra-fortified border are extremely rare.
Le Monde with AFP
An unidentified person has penetrated North Korea from the south on New Year’s day, the South Korean army reported on Sunday, a rare crossing of this ultra-fortified border that separates the two country since 1953.
The individual was detected Saturday by monitoring equipment in the “demilitarized zone” (DMZ) which divides the Korean peninsula at 21:20 Local Time, “said Joint Staff Committee. South Korea. “It has been confirmed that the person has crossed the military demarcation line to the North,” adds the press release.
The person has not yet been identified, said a head of the committee, adding that the South Korean authorities sent a message to the north concerning the incident. A research operation was launched by the military, without result. And no unusual activity on the part of the North Korean army has been identified, continues the press release.
Mines, barbed wire and massive military presence
Years of law enforcement and poverty in North Korea have led more than 30,000 people to flee south over the decades that followed the Korean War (1950-1953), but the passages in the other meaning are extremely rare.
In 2020, North Korean troops shot down and burned the body of a South Korean fishing manager who, according to Pyongyang, had illegally crossed the maritime boundary.
The vast majority of North Koreans escaping go to China before heading south, usually through another country. Only a few have dared to cross the DMZ, truffled with mines and barbed wire, and where the military presence is massive on both sides.