Defected North Korean solider in stable condition, clearly conscious
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A North Korean soldier, who suffered gunshot wounds from North Korean forces while defecting to South Korea via the Joint Security Area, is being transferred to the operating theater at Ajou University Hospital in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, on Nov. 13. / Yonhap
The North Korean soldier, who was shot multiple times while defecting to South Korea last week, remains in a stable condition and is conscious, his doctor said Wednesday.
But the soldier, whose identity has yet to be revealed, will remain in the intensive care unit until his condition improves to a point where no further infection will happen, said surgeon Lee Cook-jong at Ajou University Hospital in Suwon, south of Seoul.
"Currently, the patient is clearly conscious," Lee said in a statement.
But the soldier shows signs of depression after suffering from gunshot wounds and undergoing two major surgeries," the doctor said, adding that the medical team will examine the patient's post traumatic stress disorder.
"We will make a decision after consultations with related agencies with regard to the patient's treatment and transfer after that," Lee said.
The soldier was shot five or six times by North Korean border guards as he raced across the border and through the truce village of Panmunjeom on Nov. 13. He was taken to the hospital and underwent the first surgery, which lasted about five hours, later that day.
He received a surgery a second time on Nov. 15 and began breathing on his own three days later.
He has also been found to have been seriously infected with parasitic worms and to have tuberculosis and hepatitis B, all of which doctors are trying to treat. (Yonhap)