South Korea says it has sent a message to North Korea to ensure the man’s safety, but has received a response.
South Korean military says an unidentified man has crossed the fortified border to North Korea on New Year’s Day.
The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said his officers spotted the man – armed with surveillance equipment – east of the border at about 9:20 pm (12:20 GMT) on Saturday.
They sent soldiers to arrest him, but they could not find the man and he saw that the man was crossing the border, which was illegal in South Korea.
“We have confirmed that the man crossed the Military Demarcation Line at about 10:40 pm (13:40 GMT) and moved north,” JCS said.
South Korea sent a message to North Korea on Sunday morning to confirm the man’s safety, but did not respond, JCS added.
The crossing comes at a time when North Korea is under anti-coronavirus replacement since it closed its borders in early 2020. So far, it has not been confirmed to be infected.
Civil and political unrest erupted when North Korean forces shot dead a South Korean fisherman who went missing at sea in September 2020, when Pyongyang criticized the anti-virus law and apologized.
Two months ago, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announced a global disaster and closed the border town after a North Korean man who said he had signs of COVID-19 crossed the border back north from South Korea. .
The future of the perpetrator is unknown.
The two Koreas are divided on the border with the world’s most powerful weapon, the Demilitarized Zone. Approximately 2 million mines are located within and around the 248-kilometer (155-mile) -long, 4-kilometer (2.5-mile) -wide DMZ, which is also protected by barbed-wire fences, tank traps and fighting troops. away.
Mistakes via DMZ are not uncommon.
At the height of the Cold War, all Koreans sent envoys and spies through the DMZ, but nothing has been said in recent years.
About 34,000 North Koreans have migrated to South Korea since the late 1990s to avoid poverty or political oppression, but most of them have come through China and Southeast Asian countries.
Long-term closures and restrictions on cross-border crossings have reduced the number of North Korean terrorists arriving in the south.
Some South Koreans have tried to move to a poorer, more authoritative North Korea, but it is in short supply.
