South Korean soldiers
© UnknownSouth Korean soldiers position near the area where a fugitive soldier is hiding, not far from the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas, in Goseong, Gangwon Province, June 23, 2014.
A fugitive South Korean soldier, who has killed five comrades and injured seven others, has been taken into custody in a forested area near the border with North Korea.

The Defense Ministry said Monday that the 22-year-old sergeant, identified by his last name Yim, shot himself in the upper left chest as he was about to be detained. Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said Yim has been taken to hospital.

"We have retrieved his gun and all the ammunition he was carrying," Kim told reporters.

Yim opened fire on the members of his own unit at the outpost in the eastern Gangwon Province on Saturday night. The shooting spree killed five soldiers and injured seven others.

One platoon leader was also wounded Sunday when Yim fired on the military personnel closing in on him. He was scheduled to be discharged from military service in September.

Officials have launched an investigation to find his motivation for the shootings.

There have been similar shooting cases at the border in the past.

In 2011, a marine corporal, 19, went on a shooting rampage at a base in Gwanghwa Island, south of the maritime border with North Korea.

In 2005, a soldier threw a hand grenade and fired on a front-line army unit. Eight people were killed in the incident. The soldier, identified as Kim Dong-min, told investigators that he was furious at superiors who verbally abused him.