一名朝鲜士兵星期一投奔韩国时被其他朝鲜军人开枪击中数次。
美国领导的负责监督分割南北方非军事区的联合国军司令部发布声明说，这名朝鲜士兵驾车开往重兵把守的南北分界线时一个车轮陷入壕沟后，离开汽车冲向分界线韩国一侧。他的同伴朝他开了至少40枪。他身上有至少6处枪伤。
叛逃的朝鲜士兵冲到非军事区的联合保安地带，躲在一个建筑物后面，后来被韩国和美国军人解救，用直升机送到韩国水原市的亚洲大学医院，为他进行手术。一名治疗他的医生说，他的伤势十分严重，手术后的恢复前景不得而知。
韩国军方发言人说，事发期间韩国军人和美国军人都没有还击。朝鲜加紧开发试射核武器和弹道导弹，半岛局势日趋紧张。
这是1984年以来非军事区第一次发生枪击。1984年有一名苏联公民穿越分界线投奔韩国时双方发生了交火。
1998年和2007年各有一名朝鲜军人穿过非军事区投奔韩国。
A North Korean soldier was shot several times by his fellow soldiers as he was defecting to the South Monday.
A statement by the U.S.-led United Nations Command, which monitors the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas, says the soldier was driving towards the heavily guarded border when one of the vehicle’s wheels fell into a ditch. The soldier left the car and made a run for the border, as he was showered by a hail of at least 40 bullets from his ex-comrades. He suffered at least six gunshot wounds.
The defector managed to reach the Joint Security Area within the DMZ and took cover behind a building. He was later rescued by South Korean and U.S. soldiers, and transported by helicopter to the Ajou University Hospital in Suwon, where he underwent surgery for his wounds. One of the doctors treating him says the soldier’s condition is “very serious” and his prognosis unclear.
A South Korean military spokesman says that neither the South Korean nor U.S. soldiers returned fire during the incident, which happened amid worsening tensions on the peninsula over Pyongyang’s increasing belligerence involving its nuclear and ballistic missile development program.
This is the first shooting incident at the DMZ since 1984, when the two sides exchanged gunfire when a Soviet citizen ran across the border to defect to the South.
A North Korean soldier crossed the JSA to defect in 1998, with another soldier defecting there in 2007.