11 N. Korean boat people settle in South

By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Nov. 27 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has dropped its calls for South Korea to
return 11 North Korean citizens who sailed south of the border last month seeking
refuge, Seoul officials said Friday.

The North Korean defectors, two families of eight and three people, respectively,
came south on a fishing boat in the East Sea in early October. Pyongyang pressed
for their repatriation four times, arguing they had simply strayed across the
maritime border.
"North Korea has stopped issuing messages seeking their repatriation. They came
as family units, so we don't see any problem with accepting their intents of
defection," a senior official with the Unification Ministry told reporters at a
background briefing.
The defectors, five men and six women, are now undergoing a three-month
rehabilitation program at the Hanawon center south of Seoul, a mandatory course
for all new-comers from the North to help them adjust in life in the capitalist
South. All of them are healthy and so far content with living here, the official
said.
In a questioning, the defectors cited "poverty, discontent with the North Korean
system and a yearning for the developed South Korea" as reasons for their
defection and said they had prepared for the days-long sea journey for a long
time, the official said.
The North Koreans were found drifting off South Korea's east coast on Oct. 1,
four days after they departed from Kimchaek, a port on the North's east coast.
Seoul officials said they likely sailed about 250 kilometers on the small vessel.
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 to the South since the 1950-53
Korean War.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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