ID :
159150
Mon, 02/07/2011 - 12:26
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/159150
The shortlink copeid
N Koreans crossing border in boat do not want to stay in S Korea.
SEOUL (Itar-Tass) - Citizens of North Korea who on
Saturday on crossed the inter-Korean maritime border in the Yellow Sea in a fishing boat, are not deserters and do not intend to stay in South Korea, a spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the armed forces of South Korea said here on Monday.
South Korean military have found 11 men and 20 women on the vessel
that sailed in thick fog conditions to the South Korean island of
Yeongpyeong. They have shown no intention to defect to the South so far, said the South Korean official. All of these people, he noted, are not related, but are a "work group."
Taking into account all the circumstances of this incident, they could be drifting after incorrectly identifying their position, or after the engine stalled, the South Korean military official said.
Since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, more than 20 thousand North Korean citizens managed to defect to South Korea, either directly or through third countries, the Yonhap new agency reports in this connection.
According to the agency, thirty-one North Korean people crossed the tense Yellow Sea border by boat and arrived in South Korea two days ago, but they have not expressed any wishes to defect to the South, a military official said Monday.
The North Koreans, consisting of 11 men and 20 women, arrived on Yeonpyeong Island by a wooden fishing boat in thick fog at around 11 a.m. Saturday and were towed away to the western port city of
Incheon, said the official at the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
"So far, the North Koreans have not expressed a wish to defect," the official said, asking not to be named because an investigation is still under way.
The official confirmed that the North Koreans are a "work group," not
family members.
The JCS official said intelligence authorities will announce details after their interrogation is finished. Another military official, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, said investigators are looking into the possibility that the North Koreans arrived on Yeonpyeong Island after drifting at sea. There are no children among the North Koreans, and they were believed to have left North Korea's western port city of Nampo, about 60 kilometres southwest of Pyongyang, according to the military official.
"Given the circumstances so far, they might have been drifting after
setting the wrong coordinates or losing power on their boat," the military official said.
The arrival of North Koreans also came at a sensitive time as military officials from Seoul and Pyongyang are set to hold their first dialogue on Tuesday since the North's deadly attack of Yeonpyeong last November, according to Yonhap. Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have remained high
since the North shelled Yeonpyeong, killing two civilians and two marines.
Saturday on crossed the inter-Korean maritime border in the Yellow Sea in a fishing boat, are not deserters and do not intend to stay in South Korea, a spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the armed forces of South Korea said here on Monday.
South Korean military have found 11 men and 20 women on the vessel
that sailed in thick fog conditions to the South Korean island of
Yeongpyeong. They have shown no intention to defect to the South so far, said the South Korean official. All of these people, he noted, are not related, but are a "work group."
Taking into account all the circumstances of this incident, they could be drifting after incorrectly identifying their position, or after the engine stalled, the South Korean military official said.
Since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, more than 20 thousand North Korean citizens managed to defect to South Korea, either directly or through third countries, the Yonhap new agency reports in this connection.
According to the agency, thirty-one North Korean people crossed the tense Yellow Sea border by boat and arrived in South Korea two days ago, but they have not expressed any wishes to defect to the South, a military official said Monday.
The North Koreans, consisting of 11 men and 20 women, arrived on Yeonpyeong Island by a wooden fishing boat in thick fog at around 11 a.m. Saturday and were towed away to the western port city of
Incheon, said the official at the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
"So far, the North Koreans have not expressed a wish to defect," the official said, asking not to be named because an investigation is still under way.
The official confirmed that the North Koreans are a "work group," not
family members.
The JCS official said intelligence authorities will announce details after their interrogation is finished. Another military official, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, said investigators are looking into the possibility that the North Koreans arrived on Yeonpyeong Island after drifting at sea. There are no children among the North Koreans, and they were believed to have left North Korea's western port city of Nampo, about 60 kilometres southwest of Pyongyang, according to the military official.
"Given the circumstances so far, they might have been drifting after
setting the wrong coordinates or losing power on their boat," the military official said.
The arrival of North Koreans also came at a sensitive time as military officials from Seoul and Pyongyang are set to hold their first dialogue on Tuesday since the North's deadly attack of Yeonpyeong last November, according to Yonhap. Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have remained high
since the North shelled Yeonpyeong, killing two civilians and two marines.
