One North Korean defector to West Sea by wooden boat last month

It was belatedly reported that one North Korean defector defected to the West Sea during the Chuseok holiday last month.An official from

said in a phone call with YTN that a North Korean man defected to the South on a wooden boat near the Northern Limit Line (NLL) near Baengnyeong Island in the West Sea early on the 17th of last month.

The military added that the man carried out the operation normally, such as capturing it with surveillance equipment and inducing defection before crossing the NLL.

The number of North Korean defectors has increased to three in a month, including cases in Kyodong-do in Ganghwa and Goseong-gun in Gangwon-do in August.

In this regard, Kim Myung-soo, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the National Assembly's parliamentary audit that North Korea's recent formalization of inter-Korean disconnection and fortification in front areas appears to indicate regime anxiety and prevent North Koreans from escaping.