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LequteMan
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South Korean soldiers have shot and killed a man they believed was trying to cross into North Korea at the western part of the heavily armed Paju border, north of Seoul, officials said.
Although some details were not clear but The Independent reports that the man, dressed in civilian clothes was first seen near a wire fence near the Imjin River. Border guards told him to turn back but he turned deaf ears and went into a part of the river where there was no wire fence.
The man's South Korean passport identified him as Nam Young-ho, who was deported from Japan in June, according to Defense Ministry officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing office rules. They said Nam was born in 1966 but provided no other personal details, including why he was deported.
It was later found that he had tied buoys around himself and was carrying cookies, officials said.
North Korea's state media made no immediate comment about the shooting. South Koreans have previously tried to defect to the impoverished, authoritarian country, but it is rare.
More than 25,000 North Koreans have defected to South Korea, according to officials in Seoul.
The Korean Peninsula is still technically in a state of war as the Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.
