A rice field is seen in front of a barbed wire fence near the demilitarized zone which separates North and South Korea in PajuReuters
Seoul said Monday that a teenage North Korean soldier defected to the South by crossing the heavily guarded border between the two Koreas.
An official at South Korea's defence ministry said that the serviceman, believed to be in his late teens, walked across the border about 8 a.m. through the central eastern front. The ministry official requested anonymity citing office rules.
No gunfire was exchanged. The serviceman told the ministry that he was beaten regularly and had grievances about the North Korean regime, according to the official.
It is not common for North Koreans to defect to the South via the land border dividing the Koreas. In 2012, a North Korean soldier walked to south of barbed-wire fences without getting caught by guards. Most of the about 25,000 defectors now living in South Korea reached here by travelling to China.
The Korean Peninsula remains officially at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.
Meanwhile, Seoul says its northern rival will return two South Koreans who Pyongyang accused of illegally entering the country last month.
Officials at South Korea's Unification Ministry said the North informed them Monday that the South Koreans will cross back into the South later this week through the truce village of Panmunjom on the border.
Seoul said the two South Koreans, a 59-year-old man and a 51-year-old woman, went missing near the North Korea-China border while travelling in China. The ministry said it has been in contact with the relatives of the missing people.
North Korea has occasionally detained South Korean and American nationals on accusations of spying and illegal entry.