North Korea Loses a Soldier to the South

A North Korean soldier apparently risked death to flee the country this week, slipping across one of the world's most heavily guarded borders. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said troops apprehended the suspected defector Tuesday night along "the central front" and that authorities are now questioning the individual, Yonhap reports, via CBS News. If confirmed as a defection, it would be the first such crossing by a North Korean soldier since October.

More than 34,000 North Koreans have resettled in the South since the 1950s, but most escape via China and a third country; direct border crossings are uncommon due to mines, barbed wire, dense terrain, and constant surveillance. Pyongyang, which brands defectors "human scum," has long condemned such escapes, ordering forces to shoot those fleeing across the 2-mile-wide Korean demilitarized zone, though at least three soldiers have previously completed the perilous journey, per the Wall Street Journal. The outlet reports new watchtowers along North Korea's border with China may be pushing escapees onto riskier routes.