North Korea May Have Replaced Its Entire Border Security Team After Defection

Pyongyang may have replaced its entire border security force after a North Korean soldier dramatically defected into South Korea last week.

Yonhap news agency on Friday cited an unnamed intelligence source who said there were “signs” the North had replaced its entire force of 35 to 40 men at the Joint Security Area.

The source said North Korea seems to have temporarily closed a bridge over which the defector drove a military jeep to reach the border before his dramatic escape on foot last Monday. The source said the North could be preparing to install a security gate at the bridge for strengthening its screening of personnel coming in and out of the area.

A photo posted on the Twitter account of the acting U.S. ambassador to South Korea, Marc Knapper, showed North Korean workers using shovels to dig what Knapper said was a trench at the spot where the defector crossed the border.

According to South Korea’s military, four North Korean soldiers using handguns and AK-47 assault rifles fired about 40 rounds at the defector, who rushed across the line that divides the Koreas after getting his vehicle stuck in a ditch. (Read more from “North Korea May Have Replaced Its Entire Border Security Team After Defection” HERE)

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