SEOUL: An unidentified person entered North Korea from the South on New Year’s Day, the military in Seoul said Sunday, a rare breach of the heavily fortified border between the neighbours.

Years of repression and poverty in North Korea have led more than 30,000 people to flee to the South in the decades since the Korean War, but crossings in the other direction are extremely rare. The person was detected by surveillance equipment in the Demilitarised Zone — which divides the Korean peninsula — at 9:20 pm local time on Saturday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Sunday. It sparked a search operation by the military, but to no avail.

“It was confirmed the person crossed the Military Demarcation Line into the North,” it added. The person has not been identified yet, a JCS official told reporters, adding South Korean authorities sent a message to the North on Sunday regarding the incident.