A South Korean military conscript who killed five members of his unit was captured today after shooting and wounding himself following a tense 24-hour standoff with thousands of troops.
"He shot himself in the side and we have captured him alive," a defence ministry spokesman told AFP, adding that the 22-year-old sergeant had been taken to hospital.
Thousands of soldiers backed by special forces units and army helicopters had surrounded the conscript, identified by his family name Lim, since he was tracked down yesterday afternoon to a forested area south of the heavily militarised frontier with North Korea.
Armed with a K-2 assault rifle and a stash of ammunition, Lim went on the run Saturday night after killing five fellow soldiers and wounding seven others at a frontline border outpost.
Prior to turning his gun on himself, Lim had spoken via a mobile phone with his parents who had urged him to surrender.
An army officer who requested anonymity told Yonhap news agency that Lim had been in tears when he asked troops to hand the phone over to his father. "He talked to his parents for several minutes, and they pleaded with him to surrender," the officer was quoted as saying.
Lim had traded fire with his pursuers late yesterday before digging in for the night in a section of forest outside a village some 10 kilometres from the border.
One platoon leader was wounded in the arm in the exchange and the defence ministry said another soldier was wounded today by friendly fire.
Lim was due to be discharged in the next few months after completing his compulsory military service.
The motive behind the shooting was unclear, but army sources said he had difficulty adapting to the military, and psychological evaluators had advised senior officers to pay him special attention.
The incident triggered a massive military manhunt involving more than 4,000 soldiers. After a night on the run, Lim was finally cornered near Myungpa-ri village in eastern Gangwon province.
Around 500 residents, most of them elderly, were evacuated from their homes to a school building as a precaution.
