Defector from North rescued

A North Korean defector who swam across a sea border with South Korea while reportedly tied to floating plastic has been rescued and taken into custody, Seoul authorities said yesterday.

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The man managed to swim across the de facto maritime border off the western coast of the Korean peninsula on the night of July 30, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

The border is known as the Northern Limit Line and has occasionally served as a route for North Korean defectors swimming to South Korea’s Ganghwa Island.

“The military identified the individual near the north of the midriver boundary,” a military official told reporters.