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Kim Kwang-hyok and his wife Ko Jong-nam, who returned to North Korea after defecting to the South, appear at a press conference aired by the North's Korean Central Television on Thursday. Yonhap |
By Kim Young-jin
Seoul confirmed Friday a North Korean report that two defectors from the Stalinist state had returned to the North after previously settling here.
It was the third time this year Pyongyang has publicized the return of defectors, which observers say is a theater aimed at deriding the conservative Lee Myung-bak government.
The North's Korean Central News Agency said Monday that the couple, Kim Kwanghyok and his wife Ko Jong-nam — along with their two-year-old son, returned to the North on Sept. 12. The report claimed the couple had been lured to defect.
The family "are assumed to have flown to China in early September before re-entering the North," Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-suk said in a briefing.
Based on a video of a news conference featuring the couple, the ministry believes Kim arrived in the South in 2008 followed by Ko the next year. They met and married here.
The ministry says it is looking into the couple's motive for defection.
Over 24,000 North Koreans have defected to the South since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. Many of them encounter difficulties adjusting to life here due to gaps in education, skills, language and culture.
In July, another returnee to the North Jon Yong-chol claimed he had been ordered by South Korean and U.S. intelligence to destroy statues of country founder Kim Il-sung. Earlier, a former defector named Pak Jong-suk said she returned due to a "miserable" life here.
Park Sun-young, a former conservative lawmaker, claimed that over 100 defectors had returned home this year, though the government said this number is unsubstantiated.
Analysts say however, that it would not be surprising for the number to increase due to the rapidly growing number of defectors as well as efforts by the regime to show that the country is more open under new leader Kim Jong-un.
Kim, the husband, is said to have a family living in Daegu, who are defectors.