North Korea has confirmed that a South Korean man sailing a fishing vessel has defected to the communist nation.
The man, identified by Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) as 57-year-old Hwang Hong-ryon, fled to the North Wednesday, despite a flurry of warning shots fired by South Korean troops.
It is unclear why the man defected but the KCNA reports he is being questioned by North Korean investigators. South Korea's Yonhap news agency says military officials believe the fisherman was drunk. Yonhap also says Mr. Hwang was born in North Korea and defected to the south with his sister in 1951.
The two Koreas remain technically at war, having never signed a peace treaty after the conclusion of the 1950-53 Korean War.
Some information for this report provided by AFP and AP.