N. Korea again presses South to return alleged defectors

By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Oct. 9 (Yonhap) -- North Korea is again demanding the return of 11
citizens who recently sailed to South Korea in what is believed to have been a
bid to defect from the communist nation, a Unification Ministry spokesman said
Friday.

The North Koreans -- six women and five men -- were found drifting off South
Korea's east coast on Oct. 1 aboard a small fishing boat and are now undergoing
interrogation by South Korea's authorities.
Pyongyang has already made three attempts to persuade Seoul to return the group.
The South earlier returned a message saying all of the North Koreans had
expressed their desire to settle here and that it cannot repatriate them against
their will. But the North pressed again for their return, with a fourth message
sent on Thursday through a military hotline on its eastern border, said ministry
spokesman Chun Hae-sung.
"We sent back our message with the same answer yesterday," Chun said at a press
briefing. The reply, as before, said the South is willing to allow the North to
verify the intentions of the group firsthand, he added.
In previous cases of defection by sea, the North has tended to make a couple of
contacts before giving up on such efforts. Contact was also usually made through
the inter-Korean Red Cross hotline at the truce village of Panmunjom, rather than
the military hotline. In a 2005 case, the North dropped its demands after three
messages sent through the Red Cross channel.
Chun said he "cannot disclose the content of the North's message" due to policy.
The North is believed to be insisting that the 11 people are drifters and not
defectors.
The spokesman could not say when the results of the investigation, jointly
conducted by the National Intelligence Service, the Coast Guard and other
pertinent government agencies, would be released.
The alleged defections occurred at a sensitive time as North Korea reaches out to
improve ties with South Korea's conservative government. In a major sign of
thawing relations, the Koreas held reunions for families separated by the 1950-53
Korean War late last month, the first such event in nearly two years. The North
has also toned down denunciations of President Lee Myung-bak.
Investigators earlier said the North Koreans departed from Kimchaek, a port on
the North's east coast, on the night of Sept. 27 and sailed as far as 250km
southeast into international waters to avoid the North's radars.
Most North Koreans defect to South Korea via China. Defections through tightly
guarded inter-Korean sea and land borders are rare.
More than 17,000 North Koreans have defected since the 1950-53 Korean War.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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