N Korean defects over border unnoticed

Published on 16/10/2012 01:04

South Korea’s defence chief has apologised publicly and dismissed three officers after his military failed to spot a North Korean soldier defecting to the South across their border.

No-one detected the soldier – even though he scaled barbed wire fences on the South Korean side of the border – until he knocked on the door of front-line South Korean barracks to say he was defecting. The incident, on 2 October, raised serious questions about South Korea’s military surveillance capabilities.

Defence minister Kim Kwan-jin yesterday said he “deeply” apologised for causing public concern over the defection.