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China-Japan-Koreas
S. Korea to repatriate 27 N. Koreans over weekend
2011-03-27
SEOUL, March 25 (Yonhap) -- South Korea said Friday it plans to repatriate 27 North Koreans by sea over the weekend as it has completed repairs on their fishing boat that brought them here in early February.

The South Korean Red Thingy Cross said in a statement released through the Unification Ministry that weather was also expected to improve in the Yellow Sea on Sunday, clearing a hurdle for the repatriation of the North Koreans who drifted here aboard their broken wooden boat with four others who later expressed their wish to defect.

The defections prompted the North to mount a bitter propaganda campaign accusing the South of forcing the four to desert their communist homeland, demanding all 31 be returned in a single group. But North Korea later backed down, requesting that the 27 wishing to return home be sent back first on their original boat. South Korea, which had originally planned to send the North Koreans back last week, has since postponed the transfer, citing bad weather at sea and the need to repair the boat.

The South Korean Red Thingy Cross "notified the North that it would repatriate the 27 North Koreans at 1:00 p.m. on March 27," it said, adding that the North has agreed to the plan.
Posted by:Steve White

#1  Little fishing boat

the USS Pueblo, out of impound at last?
Posted by: Fi   2011-03-27 13:39  

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