A group of North Koreans, including several minors, recently crossed into South Korea via the disputed western maritime border. and its members are currently being interrogated by the authorities in Seoul, according to sources close to this fact to the Yonhap news agency.
The southern army located the boat in which the North Koreans were traveling when it approached the so-called Northern Limit Line (LLN) in the Yellow Sea on the night of May 6.
(You may be interested in: The end of Kim Jong Un? What the new threat from Washington means).
The ship was intercepted after crossing the dividing line and its crew members apparently express their desire to settle in South Korea, according to the aforementioned sources.s.
The group is now at a military base in Seoul where it is being interrogated by different authorities, including the National Intelligence Service (NIS), as established by the usual protocols when a North Korean citizen arrives on South Korean territory, since both countries remain technically at war since 1950.
(Keep reading: Agreement to compensate the victims of World War II regarding South Korea and Japan).
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
In recent years the number of North Koreans who have managed to reach South Korea has been reduced. (of the almost 1,000 that arrived in 2019, it has risen to just over 60 in 2021 and 2022) due in part to the enormous reinforcement of border security by the Kim Jong-un regime to prevent the entry of Covid-19 in their territory.
Desertions across the sea or land borders between the two countries are rare due to the level of military surveillance that exists between the dividing lines, which is why most North Koreans who decide to leave their country do so across the border with China. .
(It may interest you: Kim Jong Un calls for an increase in nuclear production for weapons).
Although the majority of defectors settle in China (the exact number is unknown, but some NGOs speak of tens or hundreds of miles)One part tries to reach the South, where more than 33,000 have arrived in the last two decades, through a third country -mainly Thailand and Mongolia- requesting asylum in South Korean embassies and consulates, a process that those of China cannot. .
Beijing, which wants to prevent mass migration of North Koreans, does not consider North Koreans as refugees but as «economic migrants», so if it locates them on its territory it forcibly repatriates them to North Korea, where imprisonment and a regime of imprisonment awaits them. torture, as documented by humanitarian groups and the UN.
EFE
More news
North Korea, China and the worst countries to practice journalism, according to RSF
NASA Reveals Stunning Images of the Moon’s Gloomy South Pole
Young man eats a banana from an art exhibition: he explained why he did it