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Dramatic footage has been released showing the moment a North Korean soldier makes a mad-dash defection for the Southern border in a jeep.

North Korean border guards were only steps behind the defector when they opened fire on him, and one briefly crossed into South Korea while pursuing the wounded soldier.

The serviceman, believed to be a staff sergeant in his 20s, was flown by to a hospital after his escape in a hail of bullets on November 13.

The soldier underwent two rounds of surgery after he was discovered near the demilitarized zone which separates the countries.

(Image: YouTube/YTN NEWS) (Image: REUTERS)

The officer suffered multiple gunshots wounds as he was chased across the border with up to 40 bullets fired at him as he made his escape.

The desperate dash was captured on CCTV and the footage was released by the United Nations Command (UNC) on Wednesday.

(Image: YouTube/YTN NEWS) (Image: YouTube/YTN NEWS) (Image: REUTERS)

The dramatic video shows a military vehicle speeding toward the border, passing checkpoints manned by North Korean guards before appearing to get stuck in a ditch.

North Korean soldiers were only a few metres away when the defector jumped from the vehicle and fled on foot, scrambling up slightly rising ground to cross the border.

(Image: AFP) (Image: AFP) (Image: YouTube/YTN NEWS) (Image: AFP)

Moments later, a handful of North Korean soldiers are seen running to toward the abandoned vehicle and stopping to open fire.

One appears to briefly cross the dividing line between the two countries before turning around.

(Image: YouTube/YTN NEWS) (Image: AFP) (Image: YouTube/YTN NEWS)

The video does not show the moment when the defector was hit by half a dozen rounds fired by the North Korean guards, but he eventually collapses next to a concrete wall.

Three South Korean troops, including the deputy commander of the border security unit, are seen crawling through undergrowth to drag the wounded North Korean to safety.

(Image: AFP) (Image: AFP) (Image: AFP) (Image: AFP) (Image: AFP)

The UNC said that North Korea had been informed that it had violated the 1953 armistice agreement, which marked the cessation of hostilities in the Korean War.

The UNC official told a news conference that a soldier from the North Korean People's Army (KPA) had crossed the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), the border between the two Koreas, for a few seconds as others fired shots at the defecting soldier.

Chad Carroll, Director of Public Affairs for the UNC, told reporters: "The key findings of the special investigation team are that the KPA violated the armistice agreement by one, firing weapons across the MDL, and two, by actually crossing the MDL temporarily."

(Image: YouTube/YTN NEWS) (Image: YouTube/YTN NEWS)

Plans to release the footage were initially scrapped.

Yonhap news agency reported the UNC reversed a move to make the video public amid concerns over "unnecessary speculation" on the escape.

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Last week it emerged that doctors discovered the defector had a never-seen-before parasite growing inside his stomach.

According to the Korea Biomedical Review , treatment of the man has been complicated by parasites "invading and eating into wounded areas" including one never before seen.

(Image: AFP)

(Image: AFP)

The man is reportedly in a critical condition after a bullet was removed from his abdomen.

Doctor Lee Guk-jong was quoted as saying, “We are struggling with treatment as we found a large number of parasites in the soldier’s stomach, invading and eating into the wounded areas.

"We have also discovered a parasite never seen in Koreans before.

"It is making the situation worse and causing tremendous complications."

(Image: REX/Shutterstock) (Image: AFP)

(Image: AFP)

The Korea Herald reported the soldier fled across the border chased by four comrades who repeatedly shot at him as they chased him.

The man was found bloodied and unarmed wearing a Korean People’s Army Uniform under a pile of leaves near the demilitarized zone, the newspaper reported.