Rare illegal entry into North Korea by land from the South. An "unidentified" person entered North Korea on New Year's Day, the Seoul army reported, stressing that it is an "extremely rare" border crossing. ultra-fortified that has separated the two countries since 1953.

The individual was detected on Saturday by surveillance equipment in the "demilitarized zone" that divides the Korean peninsula at 21:20 local time, the Joint Committee of Chiefs of Staff of South Korea said.

"It has been confirmed that the person has crossed the military demarcation line to the North," the statement added, specifying that the South Korean authorities have sent a message to the North Korean authorities regarding the incident.

Repression and poverty led more than 30,000 people to flee from North to South in the decades following the Korean War, but crossings in the opposite direction are extremely rare.

And even those fleeing from North to South do so by going first to China and then heading to South Korea. Very few have dared to cross the demilitarized zone, littered with mines and barbed wire and with a massive presence of soldiers on both sides.

(Unioneonline / L)

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