According to the government and an organization supporting North Korean defectors, the government has negotiated with high-ranking officials from the Southeast Asian country three times since late May to bring those North Koreans to Korea.

The government recently succeeded in getting consent from the third country's government. Accordingly, the government plans to bring them to Korea by a special plane.

In preparation for the large-scale entrance of North Korean defectors, the government has organized a joint inquiry taskforce composed of officials from the National Intelligence Agency, Ministry of Unification and police. It also prepared houses to temporarily accommodate the defectors in the metropolitan area.

With the support of the Korean government and a humanitarian organization for North Korean defectors, the 400 North Korean people are staying in motels in the third country under the protection of the country’s police. A diplomatic source in Seoul said Friday that as an increasing number of North Korean defectors flee to China to come to Korea, via a Southeast Asian country, the number of North Korean people staying in a specific country has recently grown quite drastically. As the specific country has faced diplomatic problems with North Korea, the government has been promoting a measure to simultaneously bring North Korean defectors to Korea.

A government official said, “The government's position is that we accept any North Koreans staying abroad if they want to enter South Korea and provide them with active support if they want to stay in a third country.” About 4,900 North Korean defectors live in South Korea.

(Lee Ha-won, may2@chosun.com )