A North Korean defected to South Korea early on Friday after crossing the western sea border.
 
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff(JCS) said that the defector in his 20s was rescued on Gyodong Island, near the western sea border, around 1 a.m.
 
The JCS said that the defector is in custody and the military is working to investigate why and how he fled the North.
 
A South Korean Marine, who was monitoring the border area with a thermal observation device, reportedly spotted the defector and came to his rescue.
 
The defection came about 40 days after five North Koreans crossed the sea border, known as the Northern Limit Line, in the East Sea into the South in a small boat.