North Korean defector steals bus to try and drive back after struggling to adapt to life in South

Defector told police he was struggling to adapt to life in South Korea and wanted to return to his homeland

A North Korean defector was arrested in South Korea after attempting to cross the heavily fortified border back into his country using a stolen bus.

The man, in his 30s, stole the vehicle from a garage in Paju, a city near the border, and made a desperate attempt to cross across the Unification Bridge that separates the two Koreas, before crashing into a barricade, authorities said.

The defector, who escaped from North Korea around a decade ago, reportedly told police he was struggling to adapt to life in South Korea and wanted to return to his homeland.

Surveillance footage from the garage shows the man, wearing a hat, trying to enter several vehicles in a Paju garage before he finally managed to get into a bus.

He drove off with the bus at approximately 1am local time on Tuesday (4pm GMT on Monday). When he reached the border he ignored soldiers who asked him to stop, and instead swerved into the opposite lane on the bridge.

Military border guards apprehended him after he crashed into a barricade about 30 minutes later.

The man was not found to have been under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the incident, local media reports say.

The defector, who left North Korea about a decade ago, had been working as a labourer. He was reportedly struggling financially having accumulated unpaid fines, and told police officers he wanted to reunite with his family in the North.

South Korea’s laws strictly prohibit crossing into North Korea without government authorisation, and violators face severe penalties, including up to 10 years in prison. North Korean defectors in the South are automatically granted citizenship.

Despite these deterrents, some defectors who have found it hard to assimilate in South Korea have tried to re-cross the border in the past.

While around 1,000 defectors flee North Korea for South Korea each year, a much smaller number – just 31 between 2012 and 2022 – have attempted to return to the North, according to South Korea’s Unification Ministry​.