Video shows escape, shooting of North Korea defector
A newly-released video shows the escape of a North Korean defector who was shot at least five times by fellow soldiers while dashing across the Demilitarized Zone into South Korea.
The dramatic footage released on Wednesday by the US-led UN command came as the injured defector regained consciousness after undergoing two surgeries last week to repair internal organ damage and other injuries.
He is no longer reliant on a breathing machine, according to hospital officials.
While his condition has been described as improving, doctors intend to keep him at the hospital’s intensive care unit for at least several more days to guard against possible infections.
A UN command spokesman, US Colonel Chad Carroll, announced in a televised press briefing that North Korea’s actions during the defector’s November 13 escape at the border area of Panmunjom violated the armistice agreement ending the 1950-53 Korean War since North Korean soldiers shot across and physically crossed the border in pursuit of the defecting soldier.
Pyongyang has so far made no statement regarding the defection.
Meanwhile, the video shows the soldier aboard a military vehicle and speeding down a tree-lined road with headlights on, driving past dun-colored fields and being chased by North Korean soldiers. He then crashes the jeep into a ditch near the line that divides North and South Koreas.
Soldiers from the North then race to the area, firing their handguns and AK rifles at the defector, with one trooper running across the dividing line before returning back to the northern side.
The video further shows South Korean soldiers crawling up to the defector, who has fallen injured in a mass of leaves against a small wall. They drag him to safety as North Korean troops begin to gather on their side of the line.
Press reports indicate that a UN Command helicopter later transported the defector to the Ajou University Medical Center near Seoul.
According to a UN Command statement, officials notified the North’s military of their violations and called for a meeting to discuss the investigation results and measures to prevent future such violations.
Panmunjom is inside the four-kilometer-wide Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that is jointly overseen by the US-led UN Command and by North Korea.
Guarded on both sides by mines, barbed wire fences, tank traps and combat troops, the DMZ is reportedly the world’s most heavily fortified border.
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