North Korean border guards were only steps behind a North Korean soldier when they opened fire and one briefly crossed the border pursuing the wounded defector as he dashed to the South Korean side, a video released by the UN Command (UNC) in Seoul shows.
The soldier, whose rank and identity have not been disclosed, was flown by a US military helicopter to a hospital after his escape to South Korea in a hail of bullets fired by North Korean soldiers on November 13.
An official from UNC said North Korea had been informed on Wednesday that it had violated the 1953 armistice agreement, which marked the cessation of hostilities in the Korean War.
The UNC official told a news conference that a soldier from the North Korean People's Army (KPA) had crossed the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), the border between the two Koreas, for a few seconds as others fired shots at the defecting soldier.
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"The key findings of the special investigation team are that the KPA violated the armistice agreement by one, firing weapons across the MDL, and two, by actually crossing the MDL temporarily," Chad Carroll, Director of Public Affairs for the UNC, told reporters.
The dramatic video showed a military vehicle speeding toward the border, passing checkpoints manned by North Korean guards before appearing to get stuck in a ditch.
North Korean soldiers were only a few metres away when the defector jumped from the vehicle and fled on foot, scrambling up slightly rising ground to cross the border.
Moments after this a handful of North Korean soldiers are seen running to toward the abandoned vehicle and stopping to open fire, though one appears to briefly cross the dividing line between the two countries before turning around.
The video does not show the moment when the defector was hit by half a dozen rounds fired by the North Korean guards, but he eventually collapses next to a concrete wall.
Three South Korean troops, including the deputy commander of the border security unit, are seen crawling through undergrowth to drag the wounded North Korean to safety.
