The National Intelligence Service(NIS) is said to be investigating suspicions that the North Korean soldier who defected to South Korea last November crossed the border inadvertently after causing a traffic accident while driving under the influence.

A member of the National Assembly’s Intelligence Committee said Thursday that the NIS briefed the committee on Wednesday on such suspicions regarding Oh Chong-song. 

The spy agency said it believes that a drunken Oh offered to show his friend around the truce village of Panmunjeom and crashed his car on the way and ended up incidentally defecting to the South. 

Oh is currently being treated for tuberculosis at a hospital and is set to soon be discharged. After being released from the hospital, Oh will be transported to a center under the NIS charged with protecting North Korean escapees. There, he will be questioned on how he came to cross the border. 

Oh made headlines last year when he sustained multiple gunshot wounds from a dramatic defection to the South across the Joint Security Area.