S. Korea military apologizes for defector's border crossing

South Korea’s military has apologized for causing public concern about its security readiness, days after it failed to stop a suspected North Korean defector who crossed the heavily fortified border to return to the North

SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea’s military apologized Wednesday for causing public concern about its security readiness, days after it failed to stop a suspected North Korean defector who crossed the heavily fortified border to return to the North.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff said South Korean surveillance cameras detected the person scaling a barbed-wire fence at the border on Saturday, triggering alarms and prompting a team of six soldiers to move to the area.

But the troops failed to find any trace of the person, Lt. Gen. Jeon Dong-jin, director of operations at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told lawmakers. He said officials checked the recorded video from the surveillance cameras but were unable to find the person immediately because the time in the video was incorrectly set.

A thermal observation device later spotted the person again, but officers initially thought it was a North Korean trying to defect to South Korea, rather than one returning to the North. The officers later revised their assessment and again dispatched troops, who failed to catch the person before her or she entered North Korean territory, Jeon said.