On Nov. 13, a North Korean soldier surnamed Oh, 24, risked his life to defect to South Korea through the Joint Security Area (JSA) at Panmunjeom. It was not until Nov. 27, two weeks later, that the site of the defection was opened up to the press. Reporters were allowed to visit the site of the defection in the company of South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo. Song was in Panmunjeom to tour the site and to encourage the soldiers in the JSA security detachment battalion. Guides from the military were quite strict with the visiting reporters.
“The close proximity of North and South Korean outposts creates a safety risk. If you leave the designated area, you may be stopped by force,” one of the guides said. “The mood is very tense because only two weeks have passed since the incident. Be sure you obey the instructions of the guards.”
To the casual observer, the site of the defection at Panmunjeom seemed peaceful. The conference building and the trees in the area that the North Korean defector ran through looked much the same as in the video footage released by the UN Command last week. There were indications that North Korean troops had dug the drainage ditch deeper to prevent defections, but there were no signs that any other trees had been planted in the area aside from the two that were already there.
Scattered bullet holes testified to a thrilling chase in which the NK pursuers shot at the soldier fleeing into South Korean territory. Bullets fired by the North Korean soldiers had struck below the large ventilation grills on an annex to South Korea’s Freedom House. Several bullets had also struck the base of the building and scraped the branches of an adjacent juniper tree. Fortunately, the place where the defector collapsed was in a dip below the wall of the building, which was a blind spot for the North Korean guards who were firing at him.
Even so, Lt. Col. Kwon Young-hwan, commander of the South Korean battalion in charge of security, said that the defector “could have been observed and fired upon by a North Korean guard post on the hill.” It was easy to imagine the situation that had faced Kwon and the other two South Korean non-commissioned officers, who were exposed to the line of fire from the North Korean guard post as they crawled toward the defector.
The group of reporters approached the scene of the defection depicted in the UN Command’s video via stone stairs to the left of Freedom House. The guides explained that this route was not generally open to the general public. “I’ve been to Panmunjeom at least six times, but this is the first time I’ve come this way,” one foreign correspondent observed.
When the reporters approached, three North Korean soldiers emerged from their guard post for a brief conversation before disappearing again. Shortly thereafter, another soldier holding a camera appeared on top of the hill and took photos of the South Korean reporters.
“When I arrived at the scene, the company commander at the time had responded to the arrival of North Korean support units by positioning troops at all the key locations,” Kwon said, explaining the urgency of the situation while pointing out various aspects of the site.
Kwon also explained how the South Korean soldiers had found the fallen North Korean defector. “We initially looked for him on the security cameras, but he was not easy to spot because he was covered in fallen leaves and was far away. So we tried the thermal imaging device, which is how we located him.”
After listening to Kwon’s explanation, Song said, “People were asking why the soldiers took 16 minutes to respond, but they first positioned the soldiers and then found [the North Korean defector] in a blind spot on a thermal imaging device. Now that I’m here, I can see that they dealt with the situation appropriately.”
“It was a violation [of the armistice agreement] for North Korean soldiers to fire south at the defecting person and to cross over the military demarcation line,” Soon reiterated.
By Park Byong-su, senior staff writer
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