SEOUL — South Korea's military detained a North Korean soldier near the central section of the inter-Korean border on Tuesday night, Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said on Wednesday.
Authorities were investigating the incident, JCS said in a text message to Reuters.
Yonhap News Agency reported the soldier expressed an intention to defect to South Korea, without citing a source.
"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.
Most go overland to neighbouring 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.
North Koreans are typically handed over to Seoul's intelligence agency for screening after arriving in the South.
More than 34,000 North Koreans have escaped the isolated country to the South, according to data from the Unification Ministry.
In 2024, 236 North Koreans arrived in South Korea, with women accounting for 88% of the total.
Pyongyang uses harsh words such as "human scum" to describe citizens who escape.
