Kim Jong-un’s fury as his soldiers desert posts one at a time to defect to South Korea
Unarmed trooper braves minefield and machine guns in the hope of starting new life in the free world
DELUDED dictator Kim Jong-un’s brutal regime is falling apart at the seams after a trusted border soldier downed arms and defected to South Korea.
He now fears many others will follow the brave squaddie’s move and flee for a new life in the ‘free world’ just two short miles away.
South Korean officials confirmed the defection today.
The soldier is the latest to risk their lives by fleeing the rogue state – which is plagued by food shortages and constantly on the brink of all-out war.
The border soldier defected by walking through the heavily mined military border zone.
He was unarmed and is now being questioned over how and why he made the crossing, the South’s military said.
More than 1,000 North Koreans defect to the South every year through China.
The soldier took the unusual step of traversing directly across the fortified eastern border.
The Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) is a strip of land 160 miles long and around 2.5 miles wide running across the Korean Peninsula.
It was established at the end of the Korean War and acts as a buffer zone between the two countries.
Despite its name, it is heavily mined, lined with barbed wire and has soldiers on both sides.
Military officials said the soldier arrived unharmed and without any exchange of fire.
North Korea is yet to comment on the defection.
The news comes amid heightened tensions in the region since the North conducted its fourth nuclear test at the beginning of the year and followed it with an unprecedented string of missile tests.
This month it carried out its fifth and largest test in what is seen as an attempt to counter alleged hostility from the United States.
North Korea has been in a nominal state of war with South Korea since their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce and there have been several high-profile defections recently that have embarrassed the North.
In April, 12 North Korean waitresses in a restaurant in China fled to the South along with their manager, and a North Korean teenager taking part in a Hong Kong maths contest in July sought asylum at the South Korean consulate.
In 2014 another North Korean soldier successfully fled after a failed escape attempt over which he was beaten for 15 days.