South Korea’s military suspects a man who crossed the heavily fortified border into the North on New Year’s Day previously defected to the South. Officials believe he is a gymnast who jumped the barbed wire fence into South Korea in 2020. It is not clear why he made the perilous return crossing, or if he is alive or dead.

North Korea has implemented a shoot-on-sight policy at the border to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Thousands of North Koreans have resettled in South Korea, but crossings through the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), which separates the two countries, are rare. Most make their way via China. Instances of defections from South to North are rarer still, with only a handful of cases recorded in recent years.(BBC)…[+]