June 24, 2026 / 5:38 AM EDT
/ CBS/AFP
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South Korea took a soldier from the North into custody after the individual crossed the heavily fortified border this week in what is believed to be a defection, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported Wednesday."The military secured one North Korean soldier in the central front Tuesday night and relevant authorities are currently investigating the details," Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a message to the media, according to Yonhap.Tens of thousands of North Koreans have fled to South Korea since the peninsula was divided by war in the 1950s. The last time a North Korean soldier made the daring move was October 2025.Most go overland to neighboring China first, then enter a third country such as Thailand before finally making it to the South.Defections across the land border that divides the peninsula are relatively rare, as the area is densely forested, ridden with landmines and monitored by soldiers on both sides.
South Korean soldiers patrol along a barbed wire fence Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea, on the South Korean island of Ganghwa, in a April 23, 2020 file photo.
