Five North Koreans have defected to South Korea by boat, crossing the tense sea border off the peninsula's east coast, military officials said yesterday. The group, a couple in their 30s and their two children, aged 2 and 8, and a 26-year-old man whom investigators identified as a friend of the family, crossed the border late Saturday in a small wooden barge, which was intercepted by the South Korean Coast Guard.The defectors told the sailors they wanted to defect, and were seeking asylum in the South, Yonhap news agency said, quoting investigators. "I decided to defect in January, as I had longed for the Southern society since I learned about South Korea's development after listening to the radio when I was in the army (from 1986-1994)," the husband, 37, only identified by his surname Lee, was quoted as telling investigators.
The investigators said the group left the North Korean port of Tongchon Friday after reporting to authorities they would go fishing. A portable gas burner, a hammer and a plastic bottle of mineral water were found in the barge.
About 1,380 North Koreans fled their impoverished country to the South last year, 1,894 in 2004 and 1,139 in 2003.