Tensions between North and South Korea remain high despite reconciliation efforts by South Korea. Photograph: Lee Jin-man/AP

Soldier’s is first reported defection to South Korea across 248km militarised zone since August 2024

A North Korean soldier has defected to South Korea across the rivals’ heavily fortified border, South Korea’s military has said.

The military took custody of the soldier who crossed the central portion of the land border on Sunday, South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said in a statement.

It said the soldier expressed a desire to resettle in South Korea.

It was the first reported defection by a North Korean soldier since a staff sergeant fled to South Korea via the border’s eastern section in August 2024.

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It is not common for North Koreans to defect via the land border.

Despite its official name, the demilitarised zone, the 248km (155-mile)long and 4km (2.5-mile) wide border is guarded by landmines, tank traps, barbed wire fences and combat troops.

In 2017, when a fleeing North Korean soldier sprinted across the border, North Korean soldiers fired about 40 rounds before South Korean soldiers could drag the wounded soldier to safety.

A vast majority of about 34,000 North Koreans who have fled to South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean war came via China, which shares a long, porous border with North Korea.

Relations between the two Koreas remain strained, with North Korea repeatedly rejecting outreach by South Korea’s liberal president, Lee Jae Myung, who took office in June with a vow to improve relations between the countries.