Dramatic video shows North Korean defector fleeing to South Korea

The American-led United Nations Command released closed-circuit television footage that shows a North Korean soldier defecting to South Korea earlier this month.

Four North Korean soldiers fired nearly 40 rounds at their fleeing comrade on Nov. 13, hitting him at least five times. It was the first shooting in the Joint Security Area in the village of Panmunjom in more than 30 years, according to the South’s military.

The video shows the soldier speeding along a roadway, passing the so-called 72-Hour Bridge, before driving into the North Korean side of the JSA. That’s when several North Korean soldiers can be seen running out of buildings and scrambling to stop the defector.

One of the soldiers chasing the man briefly crossed over the border before quickly turning back. The United Nations Command says that was a violation of the Korean War Armistice, the truce that halted the Korean War. The soldiers also violated the armistice when they fired their weapons across the border, according to the New York Times.

The defector made it across the border, but was gravely injured. He can be seen in the video lying motionless next to a wall. A few minutes later, two South Korean soldiers crawled towards him and dragged him to the South.

The man was taken to a South Korean hospital, where he’s undergone several surgeries. When they opened up his stomach, they found parasitic worms, at least one of which was nearly a foot long.

“I spent more than 20 years of experience as a surgeon, but I have not found parasites this big in the intestines of South Koreans,” said Lee Cook-jong, the doctor leading the soldier’s medical team.