North Korean soldier crosses border to defect to South

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Seoul said Monday that a teenage North Korean soldier defected to the South by crossing the heavily guarded border between the two Koreas.

An official at South Korea's defense ministry said that the serviceman, believed to be in his late teens, walked across the border about 8 a.m. through the central eastern front. The ministry official requested anonymity citing office rules.

No gunfire was exchanged. The serviceman told the ministry that he was beaten regularly and had grievances about the North Korean regime, according to the official.

It is not common for North Koreans to defect to the South via the land border dividing the Koreas. In 2012, a North Korean soldier walked to south of barbed-wire fences without getting caught by guards. Most of the about 25,000 defectors now living in South Korea reached here by traveling to China.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-06-15

Good for him. Lets just hope his family get their skates on and ship out aharpish before they are arrested & sent to the gulag to be worked, tortured and starved to death

Good for him. Lets just hope his family get their skates on and ship out aharpish before they are arrested & sent to the gulag to be worked, tortured and starved to death

Unfortunately it probably won't happen.

Good for him. Lets just hope his family get their skates on and ship out aharpish before they are arrested & sent to the gulag to be worked, tortured and starved to death

They might already be in the gulag, hence his willingness to get out.

Brave man, but what about his family?

He's lucky that it wasn't Thailand to the south of North Korea or the Junta would have arrested him for illegal entry, jailed him, then returned him back to North Korea.