South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said troops took an unarmed North Korean man into custody late on 3 July after he crossed the central-west section of the Demilitarized Zone. Surveillance equipment first picked him up around 3–4 a.m.; soldiers shadowed him through dense vegetation and minefields and, after identifying themselves near the Military Demarcation Line, guided him to safety in an operation that lasted roughly 20 hours. The army reported no signs of unusual North Korean military activity and has informed the U.S.-led United Nations Command. Officials are questioning the man to determine his identity and whether the crossing was an attempted defection, a possibility because direct land escapes are extremely rare; most of the roughly 34,000 North Koreans who have reached the South since the 1950s have done so via China. The incident comes amid heightened but largely non-lethal border tension, including recent balloon and loudspeaker exchanges. President Lee Jae-myung, who took office last month, has suspended propaganda broadcasts and signalled openness to dialogue with Pyongyang, moves that may shape Seoul’s response once the military completes its investigation.