Seoul: A North Korean man who crossed the inter-Korean border into South Korea in early July has expressed his wish to defect to the South, the unification ministry said Thursday. South Korean troops secured the man on the night of July 3 in the mid-western part of the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas after he crossed the heavily fortified Demarcation Line.

According to Yonhap News Agency, "During its participation in a joint government information investigation (into the man), the ministry has confirmed his intention to defect," a unification ministry official told reporters. North Korean defectors are entitled to government support to resettle in South Korea, whose Constitution recognizes the entire Korean Peninsula as its territory and all Koreans as its nationals.