The latest case follows two recent defections: one across the heavily fortified inter-Korean land border and the other through the neutral zone of the Han River estuary, both reported by Seoul in August.
South Korea said in July that Pyongyang had planted tens of thousands of new landmines and built barriers in the border area, resulting in “multiple casualties” among the North’s soldiers when mines exploded.
Tens of thousands of North Koreans have fled to the South since the peninsula was divided by war in the 1950s.
Most defectors go overland to neighbouring China first, then enter a third country such as Thailand before finally making it to South Korea.
The number of successful escapes dropped significantly from 2020 after the North tightened its borders to prevent the spread of COVID-19, purportedly with shoot-on-sight orders along the land frontier with China.
But the number of defectors making it to the South almost tripled last year to 196, Seoul said in January, with more elite diplomats and students seeking to escape.
Experts say defectors have likely been impacted by harsh living conditions, including food shortages and inadequate responses to natural disasters while living in the isolated North.
