Joint Security Area

A US soldier under disciplinary action has fled to North Korea across the border with South Korea, Reuters reported, citing US officials.

North and South Korea agreed Monday to hold a summit in Pyongyang in September, the South's Yonhap news agency reported following high-level talks in the Demilitarized Zone that divides the peninsula.

The two sides "agreed at the meeting to hold a South-North summit in Pyongyang in September as planned", Yonhap quoted a joint statement as saying, without giving a precise date.

North Korea has requested that working talks on sending its athletes to next month's Pyeongchang Winter Olympics be held on Wednesday at the truce village of Panmunjom, the South's unification ministry said in a mobile text message.

South and North Korea began their first formal talks in more than two years Tuesday to discuss the North's potential participation in next month's Winter Olympics and ways to improve their long-stalled ties.

The high-level talks started at 10:00 a.m. at the truce village of Panmunjom in the heavily fortified border area, according to Seoul's unification ministry.

North Korean troops who were unable to stop one of their colleagues defecting across the border on November 13 have been replaced. South Korean intelligence sources told Yonhap news agency that border security personnel at the Joint Security Area have been withdrawn after the most high-profile defection across the Demilitarised Zone in decades, Daily Telegraphreported. 

A North Korean defector shot at least five times as he dashed across the Demilitarised Zone has woken up, as video of his desperate dash to freedom was released.

The man, a North Korean soldier, was found unconscious and critically injured under a pile of leaves on the southern side of the Joint Security Area (JSA) after fleeing amid a hail of at least 40 gunshots on November 13.

An experienced South Korean surgeon operating on a defector from North Korea has described his shock upon finding dozens of unusual parasites inside the man’s stomach, suggesting widespread health issues among the population of the secretive state.