SEOUL — In a dramatic bid for freedom, a North Korean defector swam across the heavily guarded maritime border into South Korea, reportedly using plastic flotation materials to stay afloat, South Korean military officials revealed Thursday.
The individual was spotted near the Northern Limit Line — the de facto maritime boundary separating the two Koreas — late on July 30, before being rescued by South Korean forces in the early hours of July 31.
According to the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, the swimmer was first identified near the mid-river boundary off the western coast, close to Ganghwa Island — one of South Korea’s closest territories to the North.
“The individual was seen waving and asked to defect when approached by a South Korean naval officer,” a military official told reporters, noting that the man appeared to be tied to Styrofoam for buoyancy.
The entire rescue operation took roughly 10 hours, culminating at around 4:00 a.m. on July 31 (1900 GMT July 30).
South Korea’s defence ministry confirmed that the defector is now in custody and has formally expressed the desire to remain in the South.
While overland defections from North Korea typically route through China and Southeast Asia, direct crossings across the border — especially by sea — are far rarer and much more dangerous, due to tight surveillance, landmines, and the risk of being shot.
Ganghwa Island, located northwest of Seoul, is just 10 kilometers (six miles) from the maritime border, making it one of the most accessible — yet perilous — escape points for defectors.
Defections have sharply declined since 2020 after North Korea sealed its borders with shoot-on-sight orders amid Covid-19 fears. However, recent months have seen a slight uptick, including a man who crossed the Military Demarcation Line in a separate incident last month.
The latest high-risk sea escape highlights the lengths some North Koreans are still willing to go for a chance at freedom.
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