UNKNOWN CROSSES INTER-KOREAN BORDER

[Anchor Lead]

A person presumed to be a North Korean defector crossed the inter-Korean border in Gangwon-do Province on January 1. The military found that only three hours later. As investigations to find out the details are continuing, all eyes are on the escapee's fate, as the situation in North Korea is quite tense now because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

[Pkg]

A South Korean military thermal camera captured an unidentified person in the DMZ eastern front in Gangwon-do Province at 9:20 p.m. on January 1. Troops were dispatched to capture the person, but the escapee eventually crossed the military demarcation line at 10:40 p.m.

[Soundbite] Kim Jun-rak(Joint Chiefs of Staff) : "An unidentified person crossed into North Korea through the eastern front in the DMZ during nighttime on January 1. Our inspection office will check the site."

The defector remains unidentified. It's unknown if the person is still alive. Sources say nothing unusual has been detected in the North Korean army so far. The JCS has sent a notice to the regime via the inter-Korean military hot line to ensure the South Korean national is unharmed. No response has been received yet. Back in September 2020 Pyongyang shot dead a South Korean public official who crossed the border via the West Sea on the grounds of virus prevention. At the Workers' Party meeting on December 31, Kim Jong-un instructed his regime to make virus prevention it's number one priority. The 22nd Infantry Division, where the incident happened, is where a North Korean man defected to the South in February 2021 through a drainage canal, and where another North Korean citizen who escaped to the South three months before that was detected 14 hours after crossing over. In 2012, a North Korean soldier defected to the South through the same division by knocking on the doors of a South Korean guard post.