A North Korean soldier is expected to survive critical wounds he received when his comrades fired a hail of bullets at him as he defected by dashing over the border into South Korea.
On Monday the soldier sped towards the border in a "peace village" in the heavily-guarded demilitarised zone, in a four-wheel drive vehicle.
But when a wheel came loose, he fled on foot as four North Korean soldiers fired about 40 rounds at him, said Suh Wook, chief director of operations at South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, briefing lawmakers.
"Until this morning, we heard he had no consciousness and was unable to breathe on his own but his life can be saved," Suh said.
Surgeons had removed five bullets from the soldier's body, leaving two inside, Suh added, amid witness accounts who said the soldier's escape was "right out of a movie."
The soldier took cover behind a South Korean structure in a Joint Security Area (JSA) inside the demilitarised zone between the two Koreas.
South Korean and US soldiers, fearing more North Korean fire, later crawled to him to rescue him, the United Nations Command said in a separate statement.
North Korea has not commented on the incident.
While on average more than 1,000 North Koreans defect to the South every year, most travel via China and it is unusual for a North Korean to cross the land border dividing the two Koreas, which have been in a technical state of war since their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.
The UN Command, in place since the end of the war, said an investigation into the incident was being conducted.
South Korean Defence Minister Song Young-moo said it was the first time North Korean soldiers had fired towards the South's side of the JSA.
Moon Sang-gyun, the South's defence ministry spokesman, said military operations at the JSA were usually conducted under the orders of the UN Command, which is in turn under orders from the US military.
The soldier, who was not armed, was flown in a UN Command helicopter to an operating theatre where doctors began working to save him even before he was out of a uniform that indicated he held a lower rank, Suh said.
South Korean officials have yet to identify exactly where the soldier came from or what his intentions were.
Lee Cook-jong, the surgeon in charge of the soldier's care at the Ajou University Hospital, told reporters his patient was suffering from critical intestinal damage.
The UN military armistice commission said it had informed the North Korean military that the soldier, who was found about 50 meters south of a Military Demarcation Line, was undergoing surgery for his wounds.
Suh said the South had also informed the North on Monday of the soldier and his treatment, via loudspeakers on the border.
North Korea has in the past complained that defectors had been abducted by South Korea, and it has demanded their release.
This month, the North demanded that South Korea return 12 waitresses it said had been kidnapped while working in China in 2016. South Korea said the 12 women, and one man, had chosen to defect to the South.
Monday was the first time since 2007 a North Korean soldier had defected across the JSA.