Another North Korean soldier has defected at the demilitarized zone

North Korean soldiers in the DMZ.
(Image credit: AFP/Getty Images)

On Thursday, a North Korean soldier raced across the heavily armed demilitarized zone and defected to South Korea, the fourth soldier to do so this year.

The soldier, believed to be 19, chose to cross at a more remote portion of the border between the two Koreas. After the defection, the South Korean military noticed there were several North Korean soldiers coming toward the line separating the countries in the DMZ, and they fired 20 warning shots, a defense official told The Associated Press. The official said they were likely searching for the defector, and they turned around after the shots were fired.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.