{"id":37322,"date":"2017-11-13T19:43:28","date_gmt":"2017-11-13T19:43:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2017\/11\/13\/north-koreans-shoot-wound-soldier-defecting-to-south-at-dmz\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T07:02:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T07:02:35","slug":"north-koreans-shoot-wound-soldier-defecting-to-south-at-dmz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/flashpoints\/2017\/11\/13\/north-koreans-shoot-wound-soldier-defecting-to-south-at-dmz\/","title":{"rendered":"North Koreans shoot, wound soldier defecting to South at DMZ"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SEOUL, South Korea \u2014 North Korean soldiers shot at and wounded a fellow soldier who was crossing a jointly controlled area at the heavily guarded border to defect to South Korea on Monday, the South\u2019s military said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

North Korean soldiers have occasionally defected to South Korea across the border. But it\u2019s rare for a North Korean soldier to defect via the Joint Security Area, where border guards of the rival Koreas stand facing each other just meters (feet) away, and be shot by fellow North Korean soldiers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The soldier bolted from a guard post at the northern side of Panmunjom village in the Joint Security Area to the southern side of the village, South Korea\u2019s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. He was shot in the shoulder and elbow and was taken to a South Korean hospital, the South\u2019s Defense Ministry said. It wasn\u2019t immediately known how serious the soldier\u2019s injuries were or why he decided to defect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Korean troops found the injured soldier south of the border after hearing sounds of gunfire, a South Korean Defense Ministry official said, requesting anonymity, citing department rules. South Korean troops didn\u2019t fire at the North, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The defection came at a time of heightened tension over North Korea\u2019s nuclear weapons program, and could escalate animosities between the rival countries. North Korea has typically accused South Korea of enticing its citizens to defect, something the South denies.<\/p>\n\n\n\t