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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| S. Korea refuses to bring 4 N.K. defectors to Red Cross talks |
| 2011-03-08 |
| SEOUL, March 7 (Yonhap) -- South Korea on Monday rejected North Korea's proposal that the four North Koreans who are refusing to be repatriated after their fishing boat carrying 27 others strayed south last month be brought to inter-Korean Red The rejection came after the North abruptly proposed holding Red A South Korean Unification Ministry official, speaking to reporters on the customary condition of anonymity, said his side has agreed to hold the meeting on Wednesday but without the presence of four North Koreans who have expressed their wish to defect. In a message to its South Korean counterpart, the North Korean Red Cross proposed holding a working-level Red During the meeting, the North plans to bring the families of its four nationals, who, after nearly a month of questioning here, have decided not to return with their 27 fellow countrymen. The standoff over the handling of the 31 North Koreans, who arrived here by crossing the Yellow Sea border on Feb. 5, is a new thorn between the countries whose relations plunged to the worst level in years after the North shelled a South Korean island late last year. South Korea claims four in the group have decided not to return home according to their free will, and has offered to send back only the remaining 27 through the border truce village of Panmunjom. On Friday, North Korea rejected South Korea's move, saying the other four must be returned and accusing Seoul of forcing and coercing them into defection in a plot against Pyongyang. "The North is demanding that our side bring the four nationals while three North Korean Red The ministry official said the South is ready to hold discussions with the North to "confirm the free will of the four people," and that the South has asked the North to allow the return of the remaining 27 North Koreans through Panmunjom later Monday. In a briefing earlier Monday, South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung said his government remains firm in its position not to repatriate the four North Koreans who want to stay in the South. "There is no change in our basic position that a decision made based on the free will of a person must be respected," he said, declining to specify the whereabouts of the other 27 North Koreans. Cho Byung-jae, foreign ministry spokesman, also supported the will of the North Korean defectors, expressing hope that the standoff over the issue will not hurt the efforts of the Koreas and regional powers to resume stalled nuclear talks on the North. "I expect that the repatriation issue will not cause any trouble" for the resumption of six-party denuclearization talks that involve the two Koreas, the U.S., Russia, Japan and China, he said. The four North Koreans wishing to stay are the 38-year-old captain, a 21-year-old nurse, a 44-year-old unemployed man and a 22-year-old female statistician, according to the ministry. Defection is considered an act punishable by death in North Korea. Despite the harsh penalty, defections from the impoverished state have recently risen. Since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, more than 20,000 North Koreans have arrived in South Korea, mostly via China. Chun declined to comment on what the South would do with the 27 North Koreans if the North continued to refuse their repatriation. There were no children among them, according to South Korean officials. They are believed to have launched the boat from North Korea's western port city of Nampo, about 60 kilometers southwest of Pyongyang, according to officials. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 The NORKIES want ALL OF 'EM, OR NONE OF THEM ["This means War" + all that]. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2011-03-08 23:51 |