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| A military checkpoint is seen in Goseong, Gangwon Province, Jan. 16. Yonhap |
A North Korean man was caught after crossing into South Korea via the eastern part of the border, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Wednesday, amid a possibility that he could have sought to defect to the South.
South Korean troops detected the man at around 4:20 a.m. through a CCTV surveillance camera as he was moving south near a military checkpoint located inside a restricted area north of the Civilian Control Line on the east coast, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
After a three-hour manhunt, the man was taken into custody around 7:20 a.m, it added.
"The man is presumed to be a North Korean, and an investigation is under way in cooperation with related authorities into other details, such as how he ended up here and whether he has an intention to defect," JCS said in a statement.
"JCS is also checking the overall surveillance posture across the border. The North Korean military has not shown any unusual moves as of now," the statement read.
It is not immediately known if he is a soldier or a civilian, and how he was able to cross the heavily fortified border.
The last such incident took place in November when a North Korean civilian crossed the border undeterred into the South in the town of Goseong, in a suspected defection attempt. Malfunction of sensors installed at the fences and other loopholes in the military's scientific security system were blamed for the security breach.
In the wake of a series of security breaches, the ministry has taken steps to improve the border surveillance system. (Yonhap)
