A North Korean soldier defected to South Korea through the Demilitarized Zone on Monday.
 
A South Korean military official said that a North Korean soldier crossed the inter-Korean border into the South in Hwacheon, Gangwon Province, arriving at a guard post at around 8 a.m. Monday, where the South Korean military handed the soldier over to investigators. 
 
The 19-year-old soldier is said to be in the lowest ranking. As for the reason for defecting, the soldier explained violence in the military and dissatisfaction with the reality in North Korea.
 
Tension between South and North Korea once escalated over the soldier’s defection, but no cross-border military conflicts took place.
 
This marks the first defection by a North Korean soldier since October 2012 when a North Korean serviceman crossed the eastern front of the inter-Korean border into the South.