Local media reported that the defector walked along the road by the waterfront in eastern Gangwon province, and was wearing their North Korean military uniform when they were picked up by authorities.
It is the second defection across the border between the Koreas in just two weeks, after another North Korean made it across the de facto maritime border in the Yellow Sea on Aug 8.
The defections come as relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points in years, with the North ramping up weapons testing and bombarding the South with trash-carrying balloons.
The number of successful defections dropped significantly from 2020 after the North sealed its borders – purportedly with shoot-on-sight orders along the land frontier with China – to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
But after border controls eased in 2023, the number of defectors making it to the South almost tripled last year to 196, Seoul said in January, with more elite diplomats and students seeking to escape, up from 67 in 2022.
Last week, North Korean tour operations unexpectedly announced that the country would reopen to foreign tourists this winter.
Source: CNA
