Police Apply for Arrest Warrant for 30-Year-Old Defector Attempting to Defect to North Korea

Violation of National Security Act and Military Base Protection Act

The police have requested an arrest warrant for a man in his 30s, a defector who attempted to defect to North Korea by stealing a bus and crossing the Tongil Bridge.

Tension is mounting on June 17 at the Unification Bridge in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, as North Korea hinted at breaking the military agreement by resuming military exercises in the border area. On June 16, North Korea abruptly blew up the Kaesong Inter-Korean Joint Liaison Office.
/Paju=Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

On the 2nd, the Security Investigation Division 2 of the Gyeonggi Northern Provincial Police Agency announced that they have applied for an arrest warrant for a man in his 30s, identified as Mr. A, on charges including violation of the National Security Act, Military Base Protection Act, vehicle theft, and driving without a license.

Mr. A is accused of stealing a village bus from a garage in Munsan-eup, Paju City, around 1 a.m. on the 1st, and attempting to enter the Tongil Bridge to defect to North Korea.

He drove about 4.5 km from the garage to the southern end of the Tongil Bridge, avoided barricade-like structures, and drove approximately 800 meters northward on the Tongil Bridge, eventually crashing into a barricade in front of the North Gate checkpoint and stopping.

It is reported that Mr. A defected alone in 2011 via a third country and has been sustaining his livelihood by working as a day laborer at construction sites without a steady job.

Mr. A was neither under the influence of alcohol nor drugs and is believed to have thought that crossing the Tongil Bridge would lead him directly to North Korea.