A North Korean soldier defected today, crossing the mine-strewn border into the demilitarized zone, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said, quoted by Agence France-Presse, BTA reported.
"Our army detained a North Korean soldier who crossed the military demarcation line today", the committee said in a statement, adding: "The army identified the person near the military demarcation line, tracked and monitored him, and then carried out a standard operation to detain him".
Earlier this month, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un hosted a major military parade, and at the event in Pyongyang, in the presence of foreign dignitaries, a new intercontinental ballistic missile was displayed, The parade marked the 80th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea and was a continuation of the anniversary celebrations that began on Thursday.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, a Russian delegation led by former President Dmitry Medvedev and Vietnamese Communist Party chief Tho Lam were among the foreign dignitaries in Pyongyang for the anniversary. In the military parade, nuclear-armed North Korea displayed its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong-20, described by the KCNA as the country's "most powerful strategic weapons system."