By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
The military has been under fire for a lapse in border security, following the recent defection by a man to North Korea.
The 30-year-old, identified by his surname Kang, defected to the communist North after cutting through the barbed wire fence along the eastern Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that divides the two Koreas.
Col. Park Sung-woo, spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters Wednesday that investigators confirmed that Kang, who has been on a police wanted list for an assault incident since Sept. 25, fled to the North.
``It was cut from south to north,'' Park said, adding that the investigation was ongoing.
``After the investigation, those responsible will be sternly disciplined and the border security system will be reviewed thoroughly,'' he said.
The North's official Korea Central News Agency said Kang crossed into North Korea Monday and was in the country's ``war care.''
The agency said Kang had harbored a ``longing'' for North Korea and tried to defect several times while serving in the South Korean Army between 2001 and 2003.
The South Korean military said Kang had formerly served in an Army division near where the fence was found cut.
In South Korea, all able-bodied men over 19 are obliged to serve in the military for 24-27 months.
Both Koreas remain technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a permanent peace treaty.
The DMZ is guarded by hundreds of thousands of combat-ready troops on both sides. The 2.5-mile-wide (4-kilometer-wide) DMZ is also strewn with land mines and laced with barbed wire.
South Korea had sought to establish an unmanned electronic border-security system but the plan was halted last year after related equipment was found to be ``unfit for combat.''
Seoul initiated the program in June 2006 as part of efforts to develop its manpower-based military into a smaller but stronger one equipped with high-tech weapon systems.
It also aimed to bolster the defense of border areas, after an intrusion by a North Korean soldier through the barbed wire fence in 2005.
In 2004, a South Korean civilian defected to the North after cutting through three layers of wire fences at the DMZ.
gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr
