Panmunjom

Demand for the immediate signing of a Special Repatriation Agreement

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

North Korea was silent about the highly unusual entry of an American soldier across the Koreas' heavily fortified border although it test-fired short-range missiles Wednesday in its latest weapons display.

North Korea agreed on Friday to hold official talks with the South next week, the first in more than two years, hours after the United States and South Korea delayed a military exercise amid a standoff over the North's nuclear and missile programs, reported Reuters.

A North Korean soldier defected to the South on Monday after being shot and wounded by the North Korean military, the South Korean military said.

The soldier, who defected via the border village of Panmunjom, was being treated in hospital, the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

North and South Korean officials met for talks on Nov. 26 to further ease tensions after they ended an armed standoff in August, their latest attempt to revive dialogue stalled for  five years.

North and South Korean Red Cross officials kicked off talks Sept. 7 on organising a rare and emotional reunion for families separated by the Korean War.

North and South Korea stepped back from the brink Aug. 25, with an agreement that ended a dangerous military stand-off but left a host of perennial tension-raising irritants unresolved.