Image copyright AP Image caption Defections across the North-South land border are rare 
 
 A North Korean soldier has defected to the South across the two countries' heavily armed border, South Korean officials have said. South Korean military officials say a soldier from the North claims he shot and killed his platoon and squad chiefs while on guard duty before defecting across the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone. The soldier said he shot dead two officers before crossing over just after noon (03:00 GMT) on Saturday. A defence ministry official said six gunshots were heard and guards saw the soldier cross the demarcation line on a western section of the tightly guarded border. There has been no confirmation of the North Korean casualties and no unusual activity observed on the North Korean side of the border. The last known incident involving a soldier occurred in March, 2010. The two countries are still technically at war after the 1950-53 conflict, which ended in a ceasefire not a peace treaty.
– A rarity in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea today: A soldier from the North defected and claims to have killed two commanding officers in order to do so, reports the Voice of America. Soldiers in the South heard about six shots, then allowed the soldier to cross the DMZ. He is still being interrogated. “We'll see as he's debriefed and it's just a one-off incident, so I don't think there's too much we can read into it besides that at this point,” says an analyst with the International Crisis Group. Pyongyang, not surprisingly, has not confirmed the incident, reports the BBC. The North generally puts only its best soldiers at the border after a careful vetting process, and defections are rare. One reason: The family of a defecting soldier is sure to face harsh punishment, notes VOA.