Japan plans to send N. Korean defectors to S. Korea

2011-09-14 22:12:56 GMT+7 (ICT)

TOKYO (BNO NEWS) -- The Japanese government on Wednesday confirmed that nine North Korean defectors who were found earlier this week will be transferred to South Korea in accordance with their wishes, officials said.

The nine defectors, including three children and three women, were found adrift aboard a boat off Japan's west coast on Tuesday. They were flown aboard a coast guard airplane to an immigration facility in Omura, Nagasaki Prefecture, where they were expected to complete the procedures for temporary refuge, according to the Kyodo news agency.

"We have heard from the North Korean defectors what they desire," Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura told a press conference. "We would like to appropriately engage in talks with the South Korean government after obtaining details."

The group is likely to eventually depart for South Korea, where a government official has already said the country would welcome them if they wish to go to the South.

A man who presented himself as the leader of the nine told Coast Guard officials that he is a member of the North's Korean People's Army. He said the group left from a North Korean port last Thursday morning to head for South Korea, Kyodo reported.

The last time North Korean defectors arrived in Japan by boat was in June 2007. A family of four was transferred to an immigration facility in Ibaraki Prefecture and later sent to South Korea at their request.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-09-14

There was a hour long TV program, I think the History channel, that related the usual trip for North Korean escapees trying to get to South Korea. Their path is through China, Laos and then to Thailand where they are accepted as political refugees by the South Korean Embassy in Bangkok.

The program said that Thailand was the only country that allowed North Korean refugees to travel to South Korea however, they may have meant South East Asia countries. A boat trip across the Tsugaru Straits is certainly a shorter trip however there may be real danger from North Korean Coastal Patrols.

The program further stated that when China returns the refugees to North Korea after they have escaped, that the North Korean Government executes them as traitors.