(5th LD) N. Korean troops violated armistice in chasing defector: UNC
SEOUL, Nov. 22 (Yonhap) -- The United Nations Command (UNC) announced Wednesday that North Korea clearly violated the 1953 Armistice Agreement twice last week, when its border security guards tried to hunt down a fellow soldier defecting to South Korea via Panmunjom.
The command released video clips lasting a total of around seven minutes showing the dramatic incident that happened at the Joint Security Area (JSA) of the truce village on Nov. 13.
The footage starts with a jeep speeding toward the so-called 72-hour bridge, at which point the CCTV timeline reads "2017-11-13 15:11." In the video, the jeep passes by a checkpoint in the direction of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) before making a quick right turn by a monument to Kim Il-sung, which is the starting point of the northern part of the JSA. The driver was apparently intending to cross the border by the car.
After its wheel apparently came loose, however, the soldier, clad in a Korean People's Army (KPA) uniform, exited it and dashed toward the South.
Four North Korean guards, armed with pistols and rifles, immediately pursued him several meters behind, opening fire.
The defector was shot five times, with some of the gunshots flying over the MDL. A North Korean guard also crossed the MDL for a few seconds and then returned to the North's side.
The UNC stressed that the North Korean troops' acts were in breach of the Armistice Agreement that ended the Korean War.
"The key findings of the special investigation team are that the KPA violated the Armistice Agreement by one, firing weapons across the MDL, and two, by actually crossing the MDL temporarily," U.S. Army Col. Chad Carroll, UNC's public affairs chief, said at a briefing.
The fact KPA violated the Armistice Agreement twice in this event gives us the upper hand and probably why they changed the rules of engagement....we’ll shoot back.
I cannot imagine how both sides felt during and after this. Just a remarkable event in every way.