A North Korean soldier was shot several times by his fellow soldiers as he was defecting to the South Monday.
A statement by the U.S.-led United Nations Command, which monitors the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas, says the soldier was driving towards the heavily guarded border when one of the vehicle's wheels fell into a ditch. The soldier left the car and made a run for the border, as he was showered by a hail of at least 40 bullets from his ex-comrades. He suffered at least six gunshot wounds.
The defector managed to reach the Joint Security Area within the DMZ and took cover behind a building. He was later rescued by South Korean and U.S. soldiers, and transported by helicopter to the Ajou University Hospital in Suwon, where he underwent surgery for his wounds. One of the doctors treating him says the soldier's condition is very serious and his prognosis unclear.
A South Korean military spokesman says that neither the South Korean nor U.S. soldiers returned fire during the incident, which happened amid worsening tensions on the peninsula over Pyongyang's increasing belligerence involving its nuclear and ballistic missile development program.
This is the first shooting incident at the DMZ since 1984, when the two sides exchanged gunfire when a Soviet citizen ran across the border to defect to the South.
A North Korean soldier crossed the JSA to defect in 1998, with another soldier defecting there in 2007.
