By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
Several North Korean soldiers crossed the border into South Korea Tuesday to pursue a defecting soldier, the Joint Chief of Staff (JCS) said Thursday. The North Koreans retreated after South Korean soldiers fired warning shots, the JCS said.
The North Korean soldiers crossed the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) about an hour after a fellow soldier fled to the South, a JCS spokesman said. There were no casualties, as North Korean soldiers didn't return fire, he said.
Technically, the two Koreas remain at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty. The agreement created the Demilitarized Zone, which is heavily guarded by soldiers, barbed wire and land mines.
About 12,000 North Koreans have defected to South Korea since the end of the war, most of them by first crossing North Korea's less guarded border with China and then coming to the South via a third country.
The most recent defection across the land border was in 2008 by a North Korean military officer.
gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr
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