North Korean crossed DMZ in possible defection

North Korean crossed DMZ in possible defection

South Korea's military said on Wednesday it had taken into custody a North Korean man who crossed the heavily fortified border with North Korea into the South, prompting an urgent search operation.

Libby Hogan reports.

A North Korean man who crossed the heavily fortified border into South Korea was taken into custody on Wednesday (November 4), according to the South's military.

The man was first spotted crossing the barbed wire fence at around 7:30 pm Tuesday (November 3) night, according to local media, and was then found about 10am the next morning on the eastern end of the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) that divides the Koreas.

That's according to the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff, who said in a statement that an investigation is being planned.

It comes as South Korea resumed tours to the southern part of the DMZ on Wednesday after they were put on pause in October last year after an outbreak of the deadly African swine fever in the North.

However, Unification Minister Lee In-young made no mention of the North Korean man, when celebrating the tour restart.

Lee called for restoring relations with the North and a recovery of inter-Korean hotlines that were severed back in June.

The two Koreas remain technically at war because the 1950-1953 Korean War ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.