N. Korea presses South again for return of 11 alleged defectors

SEOUL, Oct. 5 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Monday again demanded the return of 11
of its citizens who sailed to South Korea last week in an alleged defection bid,
but Seoul reaffirmed it will allow them to stay.
The North Koreans -- six women and five men -- were found drifting off South
Korea's east coast on Thursday aboard a 3-ton wooden boat and are now undergoing
interrogation by South Korea's authorities.
The Unification Ministry, in charge of inter-Korean relations, said all of the
North Koreans expressed their desire to find asylum in the South, denying some
media reports that two of them were undecided.
Monday's fax message from the North was its third to press for their
repatriation. The ministry responded on Sunday, saying the North Koreans were
defectors and it was willing to go through a procedure for the North to confirm
their intentions firsthand.
Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said she expected Seoul to send another message
to the North on Tuesday, but "that will be only to reaffirm its position." The
North usually issues repeated messages on such cases, she added.
The ministry did not disclose what North Korea said in its messages.
The alleged defections occurred at a sensitive time, when North Korea was
reaching out to improve ties with South Korea's conservative government. In a
major sign of their thawing relations, the Koreas held reunions for families
separated by the 1950-53 Korean War last week, the first such event in nearly two
years.
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 radar.
Most North Koreans defect to South Korea via China. Defections through the
tightly guarded inter-Korean sea and land borders are rare.
More than 16,000 North Koreans have defected since the 1950-53 Korean War.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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