North Korean Gymnast Defector Hops Over Border Fence to South

Korean Peace Village Reopens After Months Of Closure

(Photo : Photo by Lee Jin-Man-Pool/Getty Images)
PANMUNJOM, SOUTH KOREA - NOVEMBER 04: South Korean army soldiers stand guard during a reopening ceremony for border village of Panmunjom between South and North Korea in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) on November 04, 2020 in Panmunjom, South Korea. Unification Minister Lee In-young called Wednesday for North Korea to restore severed cross-border communications lines and resume the operation of a now-destructed joint liaison office to bring the stalled inter-Korean relations back on track

North Korea - After taking a 10-foot leap of faith earlier this month, a North Korean man who seeks to escape his homeland passed did a seemingly impossible jumped over the noses of the soldiers put him to safety in South Korea, where he revealed he wanted to defect.

But the said leap was no surprise after all as the North Korean man claimed that he is a former gymnast.

Described as a North Korean in his late 20s, the unnamed man crossed into the South Korean soil through the DMZ or Demilitarized Zone at around 7 p.m. on November 3, after he evaded possible capture for 14 hours, DailyMail reported.

According to Sky News, South Korean soldiers found the man at around 10 a.m. the following day after his escape, less than a mile away from the border.

Based on the report, the man is still under investigation by South Korean officials, as they still questioned the story of the man, especially on his motives for crossing the border.

In order to prove the man's claim of his capability of hopping the fence, officials had the man jump twice over the fence in their presence.

If the story of the man will be proven accurate, it will be even more remarkable according to the source as he managed to avoid detection by North Korean troops, did not trigger sensors on the surrounding fences, and evade landmines that litter the DMZ.

According to the source, Authorities believe that the man's lightweight and gymnastics experience put solid credibility to his story which likely aided in his escape.

The military previously stated that the fences man crossed appeared pressed down, but it had no evidence of being cut or otherwise modified, NPR reported.

The escape made by the man has prompted criticism of the military of South Korea and their set security systems around the DMZ and why it took so long for the South Korean troops in locating the man.

An official for the Joint Chiefs of Staff for Korea shared to the source that they will look into the reason behind why the sensors did not ring and make sure that they were operating properly.

The source also added that Seoul previously vowed to strengthen its surveillance along the border with their communist neighbor following other security breaches.

In June of 2019, a boat carrying four North Koreans arrived in the town of Samcheok in South Korea without being detected also.

The latest known North Korean defection took place in August of 2019 when a soldier crossed the Demilitarized Zone.

An escape by another North Korean soldier grabbed headlines around the world in 2017, as the dramatic escape involved the soldier driving an army truck through the border amid a hail of gunfire from his fellow soldiers.

The Ministry of Unification of South Korea shared that there is a total of 33, 523 North Korean defectors that have entered South Korean soil since 1948, which was the time when the official division between the two countries was established.