SEOUL (Reuters) - A North Korean soldier defected to South Korea early on Thursday, a South Korean defense ministry official said, the second known defection from the North in about five weeks.

The low-ranking North Korean soldier defected across the heavily militarized border between North and South Korea at around 8:04 a.m. (2304 GMT Wednesday) and no shots were fired, the official said.

Another North Korean soldier suffered critical gunshot wounds during a defection dash across the border on Nov. 13.

(Reporting by Haejin Choi; Editing by Paul Tait)