South Korea military shoots man trying to float across river to North

Reuters ^ | 09/16/2013 | Reuters

[TexGrill]

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's military shot and killed a man who undertook a rare attempt to enter North Korea on Monday by floating across a river that runs near the heavily militarized border, an official in Seoul said.

It was not clear whether the man was a South Korean, the official said on condition of anonymity. The military was still trying to recover the body and investigating the incident, he said.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency said South Korean guards had called out to the man to return. But he ignored the instructions, jumped into the Imjin River and clung to a buoy to try to float across.

Yonhap quoted a military official as saying the shooting was justified as the identity of the man was unknown and he could have been a North Korean soldier.

[Southack]

Exactly. Pure confusion for the SK border patrol.

[PghBaldy]

True.