Thursday 4 March 2010

SKorea: NKorea crossed border to hunt for defector


A South Korean protster with a defaced photo of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and what protesters say is Kim's youngest son Kim Jong Un, right, shouts slogans during a rally to mark the March First Independence Movement Day, the anniversary of the 1919 uprising against Japanese colonial rule, in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, March 1, 2010. South Korea's president Lee Myung-bak said Monday that he wants to achieve "genuine" reconciliation with North Korea through dialogue and renewed his offer of a package of incentives for the North's nuclear disarmament. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
SEOUL, South Korea—South Korea's military says several North Korean soldiers crossed the border into the South this week, apparently to pursue a defecting soldier.
Military spokesman Park Sung-woo said Thursday the North Korean soldiers crossed the border about an hour after a fellow soldier fled to the South on Tuesday. He says they retreated after South Korean soldiers fired warning shots.

Park says North Korean soldiers did not return fire.

He says the defector is being questioned.

More than 18,000 North Koreans have defected to South Korea since the 1950-53 Korean War. They rarely cross the heavily armed border and instead defect via China and other countries.

The last soldiers to defect were in 2008

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