By Lee Kyung-min
The prosecution indicted a man, Monday, who was extradited from North Korea after a failed attempt to defect to the communist country.
He was charged with violating the National Security Law and providing information about the South to North Korea.
The 53-year-old man, only identified by his surname Mah, first attempted to enter the North four years ago, but was denied entrance by the authorities there, the prosecution said.
In September 2010, Mah sought political asylum at a U.N. office in New York, but his request was rejected. The U.S. government then extradited him to South Korea, where he was convicted of violating the law and served a one-year prison term.
Last year, Mah attempted to defect to the North again.
This time, he bought a ferry ticket from Incheon to Dalian in China, and arrived there Nov. 13.
He then traveled to the border between China and North Korea, and walked across the frozen Tuman River Nov. 28, according to the prosecution.
Pyongyang extradited him to Seoul Dec. 26 on humanitarian grounds, and National Intelligence Service agents apprehended him upon his arrival at the truce village of Panmunjeom.
He reportedly told North Korean officials that he wished to live there because people in the South treated him like a “lunatic,” and his freedom was severely restricted, the prosecution said.