North Korean Defects To South, Says Seoul Military

A North Korean guard post at the Demilitarised Zone dividing the two Koreas (Credit: AFP)

A North Korean defected to the South by walking across the heavily fortified border that separates the peninsula, Seoul's military said Tuesday.

Tens of thousands of North Koreans have fled to South Korea since the peninsula was divided by war in the 1950s, but the majority cross the land border into China first.