Living in the hell hole that is North Korea, a soldier did what he could to get out.

For him, that meant jumping in a jeep and heading straight for the border shared with South Korea.

The whole scenario was captured on camera and debriefed by U.S. Col. Chad G. Carroll, a spokesman for the USA-led United Nations command, reports TIME:

The video shows the soldier speeding down a tree-lined road, headlights on, past dun-colored [sic] fields and shocked North Korean soldiers who begin to run after him. He crashes the jeep into a ditch near the line that divides North and South and the blue huts familiar to anyone who’s toured the area. It is the part of the border where North and South Korean soldiers face each other at their closest distance just meters (feet) apart. There were no tour groups at the time of the defection, Carroll said.

Soldiers from the North sprint to the area, firing handguns and AK rifles — about 40 rounds, the South says — at the defector; one hurries across the dividing line before running back to the northern side. South Korean soldiers then crawl up to the defector, who has fallen injured in a mass of leaves against a small wall. They drag him to safety as North Korean troops begin to gather on their side of the line.

A U.N. Command helicopter then transported him to the Ajou University Medical Center near Seoul in South Korea.

Take a look at a short recap of the action:

The defector is one of 30 000 North Koreans to have fled to South Korea, mostly via China, “since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War”.

Carroll explained how the North violated the armistice agreement ending the 1950-53 Korean War by “one, firing weapons across the MDL, and two, by actually crossing the MDL temporarily,” referring to the military demarcation line that bisects the Koreas:

Surprisingly, North and South Korean soldiers didn’t exchange fire in the first shooting in the area in more than three decades.

In 1984, North Korean and U.N. Command soldiers traded shots when a Soviet citizen defected by sprinting to the South Korean sector of Panmunjom. Three North Korean soldiers and one South Korean soldier were killed.

You can watch the full explanatory video here, which is pretty interesting.

After his rescue, the defector’s wounds were treated by surgeons who also removed “dozens of parasites from the soldier’s ruptured small intestine, including presumed roundworms that were as long as 27cm”:

After undergoing two surgeries last week to repair internal organ damage and other injuries, the soldier is now conscious and no longer relies on a breathing machine, according to hospital official Shin Mi-jeong.

While his condition is improving, doctors plan to keep him at the intensive care unit for at least several more days to guard against possible infections.

According to Quartz, upon regaining consciousness the soldier “requested to watch television, as proof that he was in South Korea”:

[D]octors hung a South Korean flag in his room to help stabilize his mental condition. Yonhap reported that the soldier’s identity has yet to be verified.

Here’s the press briefing on the soldier’s wounds:

Eish.

[source: time]