South Korean troops have shot dead a man trying to swim across a border river into North Korea after he ignored repeated warnings to turn back, the defence ministry says.
A ministry spokesman said he was carrying a South Korean passport that identified him as Nam Yong-ho, 47.
According to the spokesman, Nam had approached the bank of the Imjin river that makes up part of the western border with North Korea at around 2.30pm (1530 AEST) on Monday.
He was spotted by soldiers manning a nearby guard post, who fired warning shots and shouted at him to turn back.
“He jumped into the Imjin river, ignoring repeated warnings to stop,” the spokesman told AFP.
“The soldiers opened fire and his body has been retrieved.”
The spokesman said Nam was believed to have been trying to defect to the North, and had jumped into the river with a flotation device to help him get across.
His passport indicated that he had been deported from Japan in June.
Defections from South to North Korea are very rare, and there has been no incident in recent memory where South Korean troops have shot anyone attempting the crossing.
There was no immediate reaction from Pyongyang.
The incident came at a time of easing tensions between North and South Korea, who were on a virtual war footing just a few months ago following the North’s nuclear test in February.
Hours before the shooting, hundreds of South Korean factory supervisors drove across a nearby border crossing into North Korea after both sides agreed to reopen a joint industrial zone shut down in April.
