By Kim Young-jin
North Korea demanded that Seoul return two North Korean men who floated into Southern waters in what could be the latest in a string of defection attempts via the tense maritime border, an official said Wednesday.
The message was made through a Red Cross channel at the border truce village of Panmunjom.
Unification Ministry deputy spokeswoman Park Soo-jin said Seoul was questioning the two and would handle the case in accordance with their wishes and on humanitarian grounds. It remained unclear whether they had meant to defect or floated over accidentally in the small wooden vessel.
South Korea gives citizenship to North Korean defectors who arrive here after debriefing and adjustment training. It returns any fisherman who expresses the desire to go back.
On Tuesday, a group of nine defectors arrived in the South after their vessel was rescued off the West coast of Japan, where they told Japanese authorities they wanted to live in the South.
Over 21,000 North Koreans have defected to the South. The vast majority do so by travelling first into China. Boat defections are rare due to the North’s military presence along the coast and rough seas.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it would send a diplomat to China to urge Beijing not to repatriate 35 North Korean refugees.
Beijing repatriates North Korean refugees under a deal with Pyongyang, calling them illegal economic migrants. Those caught defecting are reportedly subjected to punishment as harsh as torture and execution.
The plight of the refugees emerged when the Commission to Help North Korean Refugees (CNKR), a non-governmental organization, claimed that the group was being held in a camp in China.