North Korean Defector Likely Crossed DMZ Twice, Seoul Says

(Bloomberg) -- A man who walked across the heavily fortified border into North Korea on Saturday was likely the defector who had crossed the Demilitarized Zone little over a year ago and settled in South Korea. 

The person on surveillance footage looked “almost identical” to the defector who crossed South Korea's eastern border in November 2020, a defense ministry official said Monday. The person was in his 30s, the official said at the Seoul briefing, without elaborating.  

In November​ 2020​, a former gymnast​ escaped North Korea by jumping the 3 meter (10 foot) fence that divides the two sides. The authorities apprehended him a day later, and helped him resettle in the country.

South Korea's military discovered the person had crossed the country's general outpost fence at around 6:40 p.m on Saturday but troops sent to respond failed to locate the defector. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said it spotted the person on a thermal imaging device hours later, just before the defector entered northern territory at about 10:40 p.m. 

Seoul sent a message to Pyongyang on Sunday to try to ensure the person's safety. North Korea hasn't yet responded, South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Boo Seung-chan told a regular briefing Monday. 

South Korea is working with the relevant authorities to identify the person, JCS spokesman Kim Jun-rak said at the briefing, adding that the North Korean military had so far showed no unusual activity. The ministry has assigned a team to investigate the matter, he added. 

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