A 40 year old man named Nam was killed as hundreds of bullets rained down on him as he tried to cross the most heavily fortified border in the world to get into North Korea. Nam managed to get over the barbed wire fence, into the demilitarized zone which includes the river and jumped in with a styrofoam float. Officials say that Nam was warned several times to get out of the water and return to land in South Korea. After not heeding their warnings to get out of the 800 meter wide river, 30 soldiers fired hundreds of shots at him and he was killed. When questioned about the shooting the General said that it is standard protocol to shoot anyone in the area unauthorized. It is the first account of the military shooting someone trying to defect to North Korea. While North Koreans trying to get to South Korea is very common, it's essentially unheard of for someone to try to leave the South to get to the North. His reasons for this are unknown.
I think it's very interesting and bizarre that someone would try to defect to North Korea. Ten's of thousands of North Korean's have defected to the South, but to go the other way around sort of defies logic. However, officials were refusing to give away information about this man. Perhaps he had family on the other side that he was trying to get to, who knows. The military members involved in this incident were questioned as to whether or not this action was a bit over the top, which I can definitely see why it would be seen as a drastic response. However with the history between these countries, I think they were justified in shooting the man. He defied direct orders and he had to suffer the consequences.
