Anchor: Military authorities are said to be breaking news to North Korea of the defection of one of its soldiers to the South through loudspeaker broadcasts near the border. 
Our Bae Joo-yon has more.
 
Report: According to military authorities on Sunday, the “Voice of Freedom,” an FM radio program which transmits into the North, has been actively covering news about the North Korean soldier’s defection which occurred at the Joint Security Area(JSA) on November 13th.
 
The loudspeaker broadcasts are sending out news about how the soldier crossed the border and how he was treated at Ajou University Hospital. They also cited that the North had violated the 1953 ceasefire agreement when one of its soldiers crossed the military demarcation line while shooting at the fleeing soldier.
 
On Sunday, the loudspeaker broadcasts said many North Korean soldiers suffer from malnutrition, noting that details have been confirmed about the nutritional status of the soldier who defected.
 
In a contribution to the New York Times on Friday, the director of policy planning and senior policy adviser at the U.S. State Department, Brian Hook, said the plight of the North Korean defector “is a window onto North Korean life,” noting that along with bullet wounds, the soldier had hepatitis B, pneumonia and a large number of parasitic worms in his intestines.
 
Hook said that with the North Korean regime spending heavily on weapons and monuments to the Kim family, “even trusted soldiers suffer terrible malnourishment.” He added that a vast majority of other North Koreans endure much worse.
  
Meanwhile, the North’s military are exerting all-out efforts to block further defections around the JSA.
 
According to the government and intelligence authorities, the North has tightened security on the 72-Hour Bridge on which the soldier who defected drove a jeep in his escape to the South.
 
The North’s military also dug a trench that is more than one meter deep and planted two trees in front of the trench which is the spot the soldier passed through when he dashed toward the border.
 
Marc Knapper, chargé d'affaires at the U.S. embassy in Seoul, tweeted a picture of the trench being dug after a visit to the DMZ. 
Bae Joo-yon, KBS World Radio News.