19 N. Korean defectors to stand trial in Myanmar: report

SEOUL, Dec. 20 (Yonhap) -- Nineteen North Korean defectors will stand trial in
Myanmar on charges of illegally entering the country after they were arrested
while en route to South Korea from China, Radio Free Asia said Saturday.

The defectors -- 15 women and four men -- had planned to disembark from their
speed boat in Thailand but because of tight inspections there traveled further on
to a Myanmarese region on the Thai border, where they were arrested on Dec. 2,
the U.S.-based radio station said.
The North Koreans included an elderly man and a child, it said.
Myanmarese immigration authorities have transported the group from a detention
center where they were being held to a prison where will await trial that is
expected to open next week, it said. They could face up to a year in prison
according to Myanmarese law, the report added.
The South Korean embassy is seeking cooperation with the Myanmarese authorities,
the report said. It did not say when the North Koreans defected from the North or
how long they had stayed in China.
North Korean defectors are increasingly choosing Southeast Asia as an
intermediary route to South Korea in the face of strict border controls in China,
which classifies defectors as illegal economic migrants rather than refugees.
A female North Korean defector died in a Laotian camp, while two others could be
deported to China, a South Korean activist working in the region said this week.
The defectors were recently captured near the Laotian border while attempting to
reach South Korea, the activist said.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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