North Korean teen soldier defects to South after repeated 'beatings'

[KimJongUn]

North Korean teen soldier defects to South after repeated 'beatings'

19-year-old surrenders to South border guards because of alleged attacks

PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 16 June, 2015, 1:29am
UPDATED : Tuesday, 16 June, 2015, 1:52am

Agence France-Presse in Seoul

South Korean former President Lee Myung-bak uses high-powered, laster-infra red observation binoculars to look into the North Korean border area in the South Korean border county of Hwacheon. Photo: EPA

A young North Korean soldier walked into South Korea yesterday in 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 about 8am after crossing the frontier in Hwacheon, northeast of Seoul, the South's defence ministry said.

"We've confirmed his will to defect after he reached our guard post," a ministry spokesman 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 a tense stand-off between North and South Korean border guards across the 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.

Despite its name, the DMZ separating the two Koreas, which remain technically at war, is one of the world's most heavily militarised frontiers, bristling with watchtowers and landmines.

In 2012, a North Korean soldier walked unchecked through rows of electrified fencing and surveillance cameras, prompting Seoul to sack three field commanders for a security lapse.

In August last year, two North Koreans swam across the Yellow Sea border to a South Korean frontline island.

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 the 1990s. But the number of escapees has decreased sharply since North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un took power following the death of his father in late 2011.

Under Kim, the isolated state has tightened border security, while China has launched a crackdown on 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.

• North Korea said it was ready to restart stalled talks with South Korea if Seoul scraps joint military exercises with the US. The offer came on the 15th anniversary of a landmark summit between then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and North Korea's late leader Kim Jong-Il which saw a joint declaration to spur reconciliation and cooperation.
  

The South's unification ministry reacted with scepticism to the North's insisting it should join talks "without laying out improper preconditions".