A young North Korean soldier walked into
South Korea Monday a rare defection through
one of the world's most fortified frontiers,
saying he deserted his camp because of
habitual beating ,military officials said
The 19 year old soldier surrendered himself
to South Korean border guards around 8 am
(2300 GMT) after crossing the frontier in
Hwacheon ,northeast of Seoul the South's
defence ministry said,
The North Korean soldier told investigators
that he had decided to defect "because of habitual
beating at his camp while harbouring
complaints about the reality of his homeland
"the spokesman added.
The defection sparked at tense stand -off
between North and South Korean border guards
across the four kilometre wide and 248 kilometre
long demilitarised zone(DMZ) but there was
no conflict ,the Yonhap news agency reported,,
The man identified himself as a private ,the
lowest rank among the North's enlistees it said.
Hundreds of North Koreans flee their isolated
homeland each year but it is rare for defectors
to cross the land border,marked by barbed wire
and guarded by tens of thousands of troops on
both sides,
Despite its name ,the DMZ separating the two
Koreas,which remain technically at war,is one
of the world most heavily militarised frontiers
,bristling with watch-towers and landmines,
Most North Koreans who fee repression and
poverty at home cross the porous frontier with
China before travelling through a Southeast Asian
nation and eventually arriving in South Korea,
So far about 28,000 North Koreans have resettled
in the South since the end of the 1950-53 Korean
war mostly after the great famine in 1990s
Under Kim ,the isolated state has tightened
border security ,while China has launched a
crackdown on the North Korean escapees on
its side of the border.
China ,the North 's sole major ally ,typically
considers them illegal economic migrants and
repatriates them despite criticisms from human
rights groups,
Many face severe punishment including rights
monitors say ,torture and term in a prison camp
once they are sent back to the North
AFP
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