South Korea detains suspected defectors from North trying to cross waters

The military in Seoul announced that a tiny boat believed to be carrying North Korean defectors had been apprehended after it entered South Korean territorial seas.

It was found on South Korea’s side of the Northern Limit Line, which serves as the two Koreas’ maritime border.

The four individuals on board were “presumed to have defected” from North Korea, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Since Kim Jong Un became the leader of North Korea in 2011, defections have grown more challenging.

Since the Covid-19 epidemic in 2020, border restrictions have also been substantially tightened.

The four North Koreans on board the wooden boat were not identified by South Korean authorities.

Nine North Koreans were saved by the coast guard in May when they breached the western maritime border in a fishing boat.

In order to determine their reasons for fleeing the North, would-be defectors are usually held and interrogated for a maximum of one month.

Once at Hanawon, a resettlement center, they receive further training to get them ready for life in South Korea.

Seoul said earlier this month that Beijing had forcibly returned a “large number” of North Korean defectors to their home country. Human rights groups said as many as 600 North Koreans had been sent back, and that they face imprisonment, sexual violence or even death once back in the North.

Defectors from North Korea are not accepted as refugees by China. It says they are “economic migrants” and has a policy of returning them, even though human rights organizations and other foreign governments have urged it to change its mind.

(With inputs from agencies)