South Korean soldiers patrol along a barbed-wire fence in Paju, near the border with North Korea, Jan. 2. AP-Yonhap

South Korea's defense ministry said Monday that the person who crossed the eastern inter-Korean border into North Korea over the weekend is presumed to be a North Korean who previously defected to the South.

The ministry's statement came amid reports that the man appeared to be the same person who crossed a barbed wire fence on the heavily fortified border to enter the South in November 2020.

"Regarding the border crossing, the authorities presume the person is a North Korean defector and are in the process of verifying any related facts," the ministry said in the statement.

North Korea remains unresponsive to Seoul's message about border-crossing 2022-01-03 11:47  |  North Korea
On Saturday night, the man raced across the border area that is under the supervision of the South Korean Army's 22nd Division, in what is being decried as another security failure.

The North Korean defector in question also used a similar eastern border route to reach the South.

The latest incident came in spite of the military's pledge to overhaul its border defense system with stronger surveillance equipment to forestall any security lapses in the wake of earlier border breaches. (Yonhap)