Another North Korean soldier has defected to South Korea by crossing the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) under the cover of thick fog. According to Al Jazeera, South Korean soldiers fired about 20 warning shots at border guards from North Korea who appeared to be searching for the defected soldier.The report quoted political analyst and publisher of Korea Expose, a news magazine, Se-Woong Koo as saying that the economic situation is prompting soldiers and citizens to risk their lives by leaving the country.
"There have been 15 cases in which North Koreans crossed the DMZ or through the East China Sea by ships in the last year or so.
"South Koreans react to this with surprise and alarm. But then again, we have seen other cases before, including last year and the year before that," he added.
Meanwhile, a South Korean statistics indicate that there is a decrease in the number of defectors compared to last year.
"Many in the South attribute the decrease to increased surveillance put in place under current North Korean leader Kim Jong-un along the main channel of defections, which is the border between North Korea and China.
"As a result the numbers have gone down there. At the same time we've seen a slight increase in the extraordinary defections through the DMZ.
"The fact that we are paying so much attention to these cases goes to show that we are struggling to find out what is going on in North Korea. There are simply not enough sources that give us information about the regime."
