ID :
209293
Sun, 09/25/2011 - 14:39
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/209293
The shortlink copeid
N. Korean defectors in Japan to arrive in South this week: official
SEOUL (Yonhap) - Tokyo is set to transfer nine North Koreans who entered Japan aboard a wooden boat to South Korea this week according to their wishes, a South Korean foreign ministry official said Sunday.
The nine North Koreans were found adrift near Kanazawa, a port city on Japan's west coast, on Sept. 13, and have stayed in a government immigration facility in Nagasaki Prefecture since then.
During an investigation by Japanese authorities and interviews with South Korean embassy officials, the North Koreans asked to defect to South Korea and Seoul decided to accept them, according to officials.
"The nine North Korean defectors in Japan are expected to come to South Korea within this week," a foreign ministry official said, asking for anonymity due to issues regarding the defectors' security. "We have not yet been notified of the exact time of their departure from Japan."
In 2007, Japan sent a family of four North Korean defectors to South Korea upon their request, two weeks after they arrived by boat in Aomori, a prefecture on the northern tip of Honshu.
The nine North Koreans were found adrift near Kanazawa, a port city on Japan's west coast, on Sept. 13, and have stayed in a government immigration facility in Nagasaki Prefecture since then.
During an investigation by Japanese authorities and interviews with South Korean embassy officials, the North Koreans asked to defect to South Korea and Seoul decided to accept them, according to officials.
"The nine North Korean defectors in Japan are expected to come to South Korea within this week," a foreign ministry official said, asking for anonymity due to issues regarding the defectors' security. "We have not yet been notified of the exact time of their departure from Japan."
In 2007, Japan sent a family of four North Korean defectors to South Korea upon their request, two weeks after they arrived by boat in Aomori, a prefecture on the northern tip of Honshu.
