By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter

Twenty-two North Koreans, sent back to the North by South Korean authorities earlier this month after their fishing boats drifted into South Korean waters, were reported to have been executed by a firing squad.

The North Koreans were shot dead last week by North Korean military authorities of South Hwanghae Province, which believed they had attempted to defect to the South, Yonhap News Agency reported Sunday, quoting an unidentified government source.

``The rumor (of the execution) has been spreading out among locals. Local people have been shocked that all of the 22 were executed by a firing squad without distinction of age or sex,'' the source said.

The North Koreans of 15 families were spotted on the western waters off South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island Feb. 8 and interrogated by an investigation team of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and Navy, NIS officials said.

They were repatriated later in the day because they showed no intention for defection, they said.

The 22 North Koreans included eight men, 14 women and three students.

Officials of the NIS and the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said they had no intelligence of the North Koreans' execution.

``We have no intelligence of the execution. But there is a possibility that the North Koreans might have been punished somehow, as they were found to be fishing without approval from the authorities,'' an Defense Ministry official said, asking not to be named.

North Korean fishermen often stray into southern waters because of bad weather or engine problems.

gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr