By Kim Young-jin
Staff reporter
The number of North Koreans defecting to the South by boat is on the rise after two escapees drifted across the inter-Korean sea border on a barge late last month, a military official said Monday.
South Korean soldiers on patrol spotted the prospective defectors floating on an unpowered wooden barge, June 26, some 40 kilometers off Sokcho, a Gangwon Province city on the country’s east coast.
The North Koreans were spirited away to a relevant institution after they expressed their intent to defect, the official said.
According to the military, it was the fifth such defection by barge since the deadly torpedo attack of the warship Cheonan in March, which Seoul has blamed on Pyongyang. The North denies involvement.
The trend is causing concern that some of the recent defectors are actually agents from the communist state.
A source quoted by the Joongang Ilbo said that last week’s defectors are being interrogated by intelligence agents here about their background.
Boat defections are rare because small vessels are reportedly well guarded in the North.
The source also speculated the rash of recent such cases over water could be due to tightened security by China along its border with the North.
In the aftermath of the Cheonan incident, Seoul halted nearly all aid to the North. It has been speculated that the sanctions could be motivating more defectors to try for freedom in the South.