The unusual crossing of a person from South Korea to North through one of the most militarized borders in the world

This Monday new clues came to light about the person who this weekend crossed the fortified border from South Korea to neighboring North Korea.

South Korean authorities suspect that it is the same individual who crossed the border between the two countries in the opposite direction in November 2020.

On that occasion, the subject who claimed to be a North Korean gymnast In his early 30s, he jumped over the fence into South Korea.

It is not clear why he would have started the return trip now or if he is alive or dead.

The individual managed to evade the search device of the troops that guard the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) on Saturday, although the information was released by the South Korean military authorities on Sunday.

The troops first detected movement within the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the four kilometer wide strip that separates the two Koreas and which is itself divided in two by the CDM.

“Identical appearance”

Citing surveillance footage, a high-ranking military man confirmed to the BBC that it was the same man who had crossed from North Korea to South Korea in November 2020 using a similar route.

The individual, believed to be in his 30s, worked as a cleaner in South Korea, the Yonhap news agency reported.

“The footage showed that he looked and dressed the same as the person who defected from the North in 2020,” a South Korean Defense Ministry official told reporters.

South Korean military authorities reported Sunday that they did not know if the person was still alive, but that they had sent a message to North Korea asking for protection.

North Korea acknowledged receiving the message, but there are no details about the man’s fate or his possible reasons for returning.

In addition, it is being investigated how it could have crossed without being detected.

Fortified border

Defense officials in Seoul had pledged to review the border protection system in the face of previous incidents of the kind.

Decades after the Korean War, the delicate economic and political situation in North Korea has caused tens of thousands of people to flee to the South, but border crossings in the opposite direction are extremely rare.

In September 2020, North Korean troops shot and burned a South Korean official that he worked for the Department of Fisheries and that he disappeared at sea.

The incident caused quite a stir and Pyongyang had to apologize.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had previously declared a national emergency and sealed off a city after a North Korean defector who had symptoms of Covid-19 had crossed into the North from the South.

North Korea’s lockdowns related to the pandemic and movement restrictions within the country also they have reduced the number of defections from North to South.

The border between North and South Korea is one of the most fortified areas in the world.

It is full of land mines, surrounded by electric fences and barbed wire and surveillance cameras, and armed guards are supposed to be on alert 24 hours a day.