Relatives of former N. Korean party secretary in third country after defection: sources

SEOUL, June 23 (Yonhap) -- Three relatives of Hwang Jang-yop, a former North
Korean Workers' Party secretary who defected to South Korea over a decade ago,
fled the North last month and are now in a third country en route to the South,
sources said Tuesday.
The defectors are members of Hwang's extended family, one of the sources who is
also a North Korean defector and frequently communicates with defectors abroad,
said on condition of anonymity.
An intelligence source in Seoul said diplomatic contacts are under way with the
third country to examine how they fled the North and whether they are related to
Hwang. This source could not divulge the name of the foreign country involved or
when they would be flown to South Korea, citing the diplomatic sensitivity of the
issue.
Hwang's direct family members were expelled from Pyongyang after he fled to the
South in 1997. The former aide to North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is the
highest-ranking North Korean defector to date.
The source said the fleeing relatives lived in the city of Tokchon in South
Pyongyang Province and quoted them as saying that Hwang's wife had died and that
they did not know the whereabouts of Hwang's children.
More than 16,000 people have fled the impoverished state to the more affluent
South Korea, with the number of defectors rising every year from 1,138 in 2002 to
2,544 in 2007 and 2,809 last year.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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