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South Korean Troops Kill Man Trying to Cross Border South Korean Troops Kill Man Trying to Cross Border
(35 minutes later)
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean soldiers shot and killed a man who was trying to cross a river border into North Korea on Monday, the Defense Ministry said.SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean soldiers shot and killed a man who was trying to cross a river border into North Korea on Monday, the Defense Ministry said.
The man, wearing civilian clothes, jumped into the Imjin River where the river meets the western end of the border between the two Koreas before emptying into the Yellow Sea, a ministry spokesman said, speaking on customary condition of anonymity until his office makes a formal announcement. The man ignored warnings from South Korean border guards to turn around, the spokesman said. The man, wearing civilian clothes, jumped into the Imjin River where it meets the western end of the border between the two Koreas before emptying into the Yellow Sea, according to a ministry spokesman, who spoke on the customary condition of anonymity until his office made a formal announcement. The man ignored warnings from South Korean border guards to turn around, the spokesman said.
“We had to shoot to stop him,” he said. “We retrieved his body, and we are trying to find out who he is and what was his motive.”“We had to shoot to stop him,” he said. “We retrieved his body, and we are trying to find out who he is and what was his motive.”
The border between the two countries is heavily mined and guarded by layers of barbed wire fences and hundreds of thousands of soldiers on each side. But over the years, there have been attempts to defect or infiltrate through the heavily patrolled border. The border between the two countries is heavily mined and guarded by layers of barbed wire fences and hundreds of thousands of soldiers on each side. But over the years, there have been attempts to defect or infiltrate it.
In 2009, a South Korean civilian sneaked past border guards to defect to the North. And in September 2012, a North Korean civilian defected by swimming across the Imjin and crawling through a military fence on the border west of Seoul. The following month, two North Korean soldiers defected, one of them after killing two of his officers. Last month, an unarmed North Korean defected to a South Korean island where the Imjin joins the Yellow Sea. In 2009, a South Korean civilian sneaked past border guards to defect to the North. And last September, a North Korean civilian defected by swimming across the Imjin and crawling through a military fence along the border west of Seoul. The following month, two North Korean soldiers defected, one of them after killing two of his officers. Last month, an unarmed North Korean defected to a South Korean island where the Imjin joins the Yellow Sea.
But nearly all of the 25,000 North Koreans who have defected to the South since a famine hit their country in the 1990s have come through China. But nearly all of the 25,000 North Koreans who have defected to the South since a famine hit their country in the 1990s have gone through China.