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SEOUL (Reuters) -A North Korean resident has defected to the South after crossing the heavily guarded western maritime border, the Yonhap news agency reported on Thursday, citing unnamed military sources.
Two North Koreans had initially tried to cross the Northern Limit Line in the Yellow Sea, the de facto inter-Korean sea boundary off the west coast, but only one made it to a South Korean border island on foot at low tide, Yonhap said.
Yonhap said the second person failed to crossed the border, and the Newsis agency said that person went missing, citing military sources.
Most North Korean escapees make their way to the South through China and Southeast Asia, rather than via the heavily defended maritime frontier. However, some have opted to use the sea route following tighter land-border controls imposed by Pyongyang during the COVID outbreak.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said it had handed over a suspected North Korean national to authorities and was investigating how the person crossed the border and whether the person intended to defect, without elaborating.
The military had monitored the person's arrival and helped the man arrive safely, Defence Minister Shin Won-sik said at a parliamentary session, but declined to elaborate citing ongoing investigations.
Last October, four North Koreans defected to the South via the eastern maritime border aboard a small wooden vessel, and in May 2023, nine people crossed the western sea boundary on a fishing boat.
(Reporting by Hyunsu Yim and Hyonhee ShinEditing by Ed Davies and Bernadette Baum)
