South Korea's military apologized Wednesday for causing public concern about its security readiness, days after it failed to stop a suspected North Korean defector who crossed the heavily fortified border to the North.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff said South Korean surveillance cameras detected a person scaling a barbed-wire fence at the border on Saturday, triggering alarms and prompting a team of six soldiers to move to the area.
But the troops didn't find any trace of the person, said Lt. Gen. Jeon Dong-jin, the director of operations at the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He said officials checked the recorded video from the surveillance cameras but were unable to find the person immediately because the time in the video was incorrectly set.
A thermal observation device spotted the person, but officers initially thought it was a North Korean attempt to defect to South Korea, rather than one returning to the North. The officers later revised their assessment and dispatched troops who failed to catch the person before he or she entered North Korean territory, Jeon said.
Jeon said that the military will strengthen the readiness of front-line troops and upgrade surveillance systems along the border.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Won Inchoul, told the lawmakers that they were sorry for causing concerns to the people because of this incident. I promise to make every effort to make sure there is no repeat of similar incidents. President Moon Jae-in called the incident a grave failure in surveillance that the military must not repeat. Park Kyung-mee, Park Kyung-mee, said he ordered a special inspection of the military's overall security posture.
The Defense Ministry said the person who crossed the border is likely a defector who walked across the border in the other direction in late 2020 to settle in South Korea. The appearance of the person in the security video matches that of the defector, according to ministry officials.
After arriving in South Korea, the defector identified himself as a former gymnast and said he crawled over border fences before being found by South Korean troops.
Defecting via the 248 kilometer 155 mile long, 4 kilometer 2.5 mile wide border, known as the Demilitarized Zone, is rare because it is guarded by landmines, tank traps and combat troops on both sides, in addition to barbed-wire fences. South Korea's military has been under huge public criticism whenever someone is able to cross the border undetected.
The fate of the person who crossed into North Korea on Saturday is not known. The Defense Ministry said that North Korea hasn't responded to its request to the person's safety be assured.
While in South Korea the defector struggled to adjust to his new life, complained to people around him and told them about his desire to return to North Korea, said Ahn Chan-il, a defector-turned scholar in Seoul.
Ahn, citing unidentified friends of the man, said he worked for a small janitorial service but was bullied by colleagues and lived alone in a government-provided apartment in Seoul. He said the defector had fled to South Korea after suffering abuse from his stepfather in North Korea.
Since the late 1990s, almost 34,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea in search of a better life, and about 30 have returned home in the past 10 years, according to South Korean government records.
Observers say that returnees likely suffered cultural shock and discrimination, had large debts or were blackmailed by North Korean agents who threatened to harm their loved ones if they didn't return.