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Authorities tentatively concluded that a total of 468 North Korean defectors were brought from a Southeast Asian country to Korea. A government official said that since Korean-Chinese people were possibly included in the group of North Korean defectors, the accurate number of the defectors will be drawn through a joint investigation by related government agencies.
The second group of 241 North Korean defectors joined the first group of defectors who had arrived a day earlier in a training center in Gyeonggi province.
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The second group of North Korean defectors arrive at Incheon International Airport on Wednesday morning by Korean Air¡¯s chartered flight from a Southeast Asian nation.
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For one to two months, the government will question the 468 North Korean defectors about their personal information and why and how they fled North Korea. Defectors who have gone through the questioning will be housed in Hanawon, a residential facility for North Korean defectors.
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The second group of North Korean defectors, who come to Korea from a Southeast Asian nation, look outside at the scenery through the bus windows, after being taken to the Gyeonggi Provinces retreat of a certain financial body.
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Song Boo-keun, the secretary general of an organization helping North Korean defectors, urged the government Wednesday to begin negotiations with the Chinese government to bring North Korean escapees staying in China to Seoul. The number of North Korean defectors in China is presumed to exceed 100,000. Song also said that the Chinese government should change its policies toward North Korean defectors to acknowledge them as refugees in accordance with international law. The Chinese government should stop the forced repatriation of defectors to North Korea and take measures to let them go to a third country like South Korea.¡±
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Buses loaded with the second group of North Korean defectors, who came to Korea from a Southeast Asian nation, leave Incheon Airport flanked by dozens of vehicles from various broadcasting companies, on Wednesday morning.
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Crew members who accompanied the second group of North Korean defectors said that many of them complained about diarrhea, vomiting and sickness because they might have been nervous. Crew Ahn Hye-ran said that some people were interested in their appearance and they wore sunglasses and hats. Before she got off the plane, a woman corrected her make-up to have good photos. All of them liked coffee with sugar and cream, Ahn added. As one of the crew mistook the spelling of his last name ¡°seong¡± as ¡°seung¡±, a middle-aged man emphasized the spelling with a smile, saying, ¡°Not ¡®seung.¡¯ The ¡®sung¡¯ when you say ¡®Kim Il-sung.¡¯ You got it?¡± Crew members said that the defectors appeared to be anxious about their life in a changed environment, considering that they had cautiously asked them several times about what region is good to live in.
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The second group of North Korean defectors, who come to Korea from a Southeast Asian nation, look outside at the scenery through the bus windows, after being taken to the Gyeonggi Provinces retreat of a certain financial body.
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(Kim In-gu, ginko@chosun.com )
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