DPRK soldiers look toward the south side while ROK Unification Minister Lee In-young visits the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) dividing the two Koreas on September 16, 2020. (PARK TAE-HYUN /  KOREA POOL / AFP)

SEOUL - Republic of Korea (ROK) police said on Sunday they had arrested a defector who tried to return to Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) after a similar, successful crossing in July escalated tensions on the peninsula.

The defector, who had fled to ROK in 2018, was suspected of breaking into a military training site in the ROK border town of Cheorwon on Thursday to head back to the DPRK.

The defector, who had fled to ROK in 2018, was suspected of breaking into a military training site in the ROK border town of Cheorwon on Thursday to head back to the DPRK

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“The man is under police investigation. We are looking into details such as why he tried to cross the border,” a policewomen said by telephone. She said she could not confirm the date of the arrest.

In July, a 24-year-old defector returned to the DPRK the way he left in 2017, going through a drainage ditch and swimming across the Han River.

When the 24-year-old defector illegally returned to the DPRK in July, the “runaway” prompted the government to launch an investigation into the military unit responsible for the crossing.