North Korean Soldier Defects, Racing Through Gunfire Across DMZ

A North Korean soldier has defected to South Korea at the heavily protected Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), according to South Korea's military.

The soldier was shot and injured by his own military as he crossed to the South Korean side of the Joint Security Area in the village of Panmunjom.

The defector was immediately rushed to the hospital.

"He crossed from a North Korea post towards our Freedom House, a building on the South Korean side of the border," the statement said. 

He was hit in the arm and shoulder.

This marks the fourth defection by a North Korean soldier at the DMZ, in the last three years.

About 1,000 people from the North flee to the South each year, but it's highly unusual for a soldier to defect at the DMZ.

North and South Korea are technically still at war, since the conflict between them ended in 1953 with a truce and not a formal peace treaty.

Seoul says more than 30,000 North Koreans have defected to the South since the end of the Korean War in 1953.