A North Korean soldier on Saturday crossed the military demarcation line to defect to South Korea after shooting dead two of his superiors, officials at Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

The soldier crossed the border at around 12:06 p.m. and expressed his intention to defect to a nearby guard post just south of the heavily fortified border. He is the first to defect across the MDL since March 2010.

“Our border guard found him running toward our guard post near the border. With a loudspeaker, we confirmed his wish to defect and allowed him to move over to our side,” a JCS official told media.

“We saw the bodies of the two soldiers being moved out.”

Related agencies are investigating whether he defected for political reasons or due to internal conflict in his unit.

The South Korean military has strengthened the vigilance posture near the border. No unusual movements of North Korean military have been detected, officials said.

Pyongyang could demand that Seoul hand him over as he could be put on trial for murdering the two seniors, observers said.

The two Koreas still remain technically at war as the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty. Their relationship has deteriorated amid a series of North Korean provocations including the two deadly attacks in 2010, which killed 50 South Koreans including two civilians.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)