Shots fired along demilitarized zone as North Korean soldier defects

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean guards fired warning shots across the heavily militarized border with North Korea on Thursday as a soldier from the North defected, officials said, complicating efforts to ease tensions over the Pyongyang’s weapons programs.A South Korean defense ministry official said up to 20 warning shots were fired at North Korean troops who approached too closely to the “military demarcation line”, apparently in search of the missing soldier.

Thursday’s defection came about five weeks after another North Korean soldier suffered critical gunshot wounds during a defection dash across the border on Nov. 13.

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Two North Korean civilians who were found in a fishing boat on Wednesday had also sought to defect, officials in the South said.

That brings the total number of North Koreans who have defected by taking dangerous routes either directly across the border or by sea to 15 so far this year, including two other soldiers. That is three times the number last year, according to South Korean officials.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula were already high after North Korea accelerated testing of its missile and nuclear programs this year in defiance of international pressure.

The rash of defections also threatens to complicate South Korea’s efforts to ensure the smooth running of the 2018 Winter Olympics, which begin in Pyeongchang in February.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Tuesday he had proposed postponing major military drills with the United States until after the games in an attempt to soothe relations, although officials in Seoul later said any proposed delay would depend on the North not engaging in any “provocations”.