We remember this incident and the alarm it caused. The author of this post was headed back to CONUS at the time and had just returned his winter clothing and boots; he wondered whether he might be headed back up to the ‘Z without his coat and “Mickey Mouse” boots.
“When (Soviet citizen) Matuzok’s 1984 tour group was distracted, he made a break for it.
Immediately realizing what was happening, some 30 North Korean soldiers pursued him and fired wildly in the hopes of bringing him down before he could reach the other side.”
Source: That time a Soviet citizen defected across the Korean DMZ – We Are The Mighty