A man observed crossing the heavily fortified border from South Korea into North Korea last week is believed to be a North Korean who previously defected to the South in 2020 in the same area, Seoul's defense ministry says reut.rs/3JAkfiS 1/5 
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff carried out a search operation after detecting the person on Saturday on the eastern side of the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas. A ministry official told reporters they believe the man came to the South in Nov. 2020 2/5
Investigators are seeking to determine whether weekend movement detected on the northern side of the border was North Korean troops coming to escort the man, but that at this time the South Korean government does not think it is a case of espionage, the official added 3/5
The official said North Korea has acknowledged the South's messages on inter-Korean hotlines about the incident, but has not provided any more details about the man's fate 4/5
While thousands of North Koreans have settled in the South, crossings of the DMZ are rare, with most defectors making their way through China.
Defections from South to North across the DMZ are rarer still, with just a handful recorded in recent years reut.rs/3JAkfiS 5/5
Defections from South to North across the DMZ are rarer still, with just a handful recorded in recent years reut.rs/3JAkfiS 5/5
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