A North Korean man who fled the country has been detained by South Korean troops while asleep due to exhaustion after crossing the border.
The man, in his 20s, was said to be wearing a diving suit for a six-hour swim, past the Demilitarized Zone, before arriving in Goseong, South Korea.
“He presumably had swum for about six hours, wearing a padded jacket inside a diving suit and fins. His clothing appeared to have kept him warm and allowed him to stay afloat,” an unnamed Joint Chiefs of Staff official.
The man was fortunate to be aided by the currents of the sea. He removed most of his equipment before entering the drainage under the wire fence in the beach area.
His image was recorded by CCTV eight times before the alarm went off twice, but South Korean border guards still could not detect it.
After a search operation was launched, authorities found the man as he fell asleep under a tree. When arrested, the North Korean man has expressed a desire to defect.
More than 30,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea in recent decades.
However, the figure dropped to only 229 last year after Pyongyang tightened border controls to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Source: CTVNews, Yonhap News
