“An incredible amount of parasites was found in the stomach of the soldier from the JSA, so we are having trouble treating him,” Lee told reporters. “We’ve never seen anything like it in a Korean person before, and it can bring about tremendous complications and make a prognosis difficult.” The worms were reportedly all inside the man’s small intestine as well.

“We discovered parasites that are simply not found in people in this country,” he explained, “I haven’t seen them in my 20 years as a doctor except in textbooks.” The parasites were reportedly roundworms, which are common in developing countries like North Korea, where crops are fertilized with human feces.