hankyoreh

Soldiers carry out border watch south of the Armistice Line (Military Demarcation Line) on the western front line in August 2015. (Hankyoreh archive photo)

An unidentified individual presumed to be a civilian defected to North Korea from South Korea on Saturday, New Year’s Day. The individual crossed the barbed wire fence dividing the two Koreas in Gangwon Province along the eastern front line, where the 22nd Infantry Division is stationed. Though security cameras caught the person crossing the border and an alarm sounded in response to the defection, the military was not alerted to this fact until later.

Because the 22nd Infantry Division has a track record of similar incidents in which failure to properly guard the border met with inadequate early response to emergencies, the military is sure to face criticism.

Some have also expressed concern for the defector’s safety, as North Korea has ramped up disease control measures against COVID-19, going so far as to close its borders.

An official from the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Sunday, “At 9:20 pm Saturday, an unidentified individual was spotted in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) along the eastern front line by our security system. In response, troops were dispatched into the DMZ to locate the individual, after which, it was confirmed that the individual had crossed the military demarcation line (MDL) over to the North at around 10:40 pm.”

Though there is no fencing along the MDL, the Southern Limit Line in South Korea is lined with fences.

The official also explained, “Further investigation revealed that the individual crossed the general outpost (GOP) fence at around 6:40 pm that day, per security footage.”

The fence is equipped with a sensor that sounds an alarm when more than a certain amount of weight is applied to it, as well as closed-circuit TV (CCTV) cameras. The JCS official added, “[Though the individual scaling the fence] was captured by security cameras, the guard in the situation room failed to notice it at the time, spotting the border crossing only after the fact while replaying CCTV footage.”

The defector did trigger an alarm in the military’s situation room and a response team was dispatched to the scene, but the team withdrew when it found no damage to the fencing.

At 9:20 pm — three hours after the defector crossed the GOP fence — the military finally spotted the individual moving through the DMZ via a thermal observation device (TOD). TOD captures heat generated by people or objects through video, allowing for object identification even at night.

After, the military attempted to locate the defector in the DMZ for an hour and 20 minutes but ultimately came up empty-handed.

Though security cameras captured the defector early on and a response team was dispatched following the alarm, the military was unaware of the emergency situation and belatedly attempted to locate the defector in vain. The JCS official expressed disappointment, saying, “The response team’s passivity left much to be desired.” The official also added that the JCS Combat Readiness Inspection Office is investigating the scene.

South Korean soldiers monitor CCTV footage of the border at a camp along the central front line in 2014. (Kim Gyoung-ho/The Hankyoreh)

Neither the defector’s identity nor their current status is known. The military said there was no personnel missing from the 22nd Infantry Division, for which reason it is presuming that the defector is a civilian for now. The JCS official said, “In an effort to ensure the safety of a Korean citizen, the military notified North Korea of the defection this morning [via the military communications channel on the western coast.]”

Of great concern is the defector’s safety, as North Korea has instituted drastic disease control measures against COVID-19 amounting to border closures. When a South Korean civil servant who went missing at sea near Soyeonpyeong Island in the Yellow Sea in September of 2020 was shot and killed by the North Korean military, North Korea argued that the measure had been taken according to “national emergency disease control regulations.”

When a North Korean defector crossed back into North Korea from Ganghwa Island in the Yellow Sea in July of 2020, arriving in Kaesong, North Korea raised its disease control level to its highest alert, saying a “suspected COVID-19 case” entered its borders. As of Sunday morning, no abnormal activity by the North Korean military was detected in the area where the defection took place.

The 22nd Infantry Division is the only division within the South Korean Army responsible for guarding the land border as well as the coastal border in the East Sea. Hence, it is responsible for guarding three to four times the area a typical division guards, but its military strength is similar to that of other units.

Perhaps because of this, the 22nd Infantry Division has been mired in many defector controversies.

In February of last year, a North Korean male defected to South Korea by swimming across the coastal border in the East Sea near Goseong Unification Observatory in Gangwon Province; in October of 2012, a North Korean soldier defected to South Korea without being detected until he knocked on the door of a military guard post. In 2009, a civilian who had previously served in the 22nd Infantry Division defected to the North by creating a hole in the barbed wire fencing.

The division is also known as “the graveyard of the stars,” as the number of commanders who had to resign due to unsavory accidents and incidents surpass the number of commanders who were able to finish out their terms.

By Kwon Hyuk-chul, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]