After a North Korean defector was able to wander along South Korea's heavily guarded border with the North undetected, the South Korean military is currently facing tons of criticism.
North Korean Defector Evades Capture
Reports stated that the defector crossed over to the south by swimming early morning on February 16. However, despite being spotted by surveillance cameras on multiple occasions, the defector was able to evade being captured for over six hours.
According to NPR, the man passed through the East Sea to defect to the South. Reports also stated that the man used a drainage tunnel in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) and crawled through.
Defector Evaded Capture for Hours
Moreover, it was reported that the man was able to walk undetected for about 5kms after hiding his wetsuit and flippers. He was only captured after a guard saw him through the CCTV and then alerted the superiors.
By the time that the search for the defector began, the man from North Korea has already been spotted by coastal surveillance cameras at least five times. Aside from that he also triggered at least two alarms, which the soldiers were not able to notice, resulting in inaction.
The defector was then able to move on with his journey passing through three fence cameras that did not trigger any alarm.
According to The Guardian, following the incident, the joint chiefs of staff (JCS) official told South Korea's Yonhap News that several service members who were in charge of the guard duty were not able to follow certain procedures. As a result of failing to follow the rules, the service members were not able to detect the North Korean defector.
Meanwhile, after the incident was investigated it was found out that the guard who was in charge of the coastal surveillance was fixing an issue with his computer. The guard reportedly thought the alarms were simply caused by a technical error. On the other hand, the guard at the military post was reportedly distracted by a phone call during the incident. On top of these, the military was also highly criticized after it came out that it had not known of the existence of the drainage tunnel that the North Korean man used when he defected from the North.
In a report by BBC, the North Korean defector journeyed from the North amid the winter, which raised several questions on how he was able to survive swimming in the freezing water. However, the JCS answered the questions stating that the man wore a padded jacket inside his wet suit and that the tides could have worked in favor of the man.
Officials refused to release the name of the North Korean defector and only stated that he was in his 20s and was a fisheries worker. Reports have claimed that the man intended to surrender himself to civilians fearing that the military would force him back to the North. Before the recent incident, South Korea's military has already faced criticism regarding breaches from the North after a civilian was able to cross the fences covered in barbed wire and was able to evade capture in November.
