Two North Koreans defect to South

SEOUL: Two North Koreans defected to the South across the Yellow Sea yesterday, a South Korean news report said, citing a government source.

“A small boat was spotted in waters off the north of Baengnyeong Island” near the inter-Korean border, the source told Yonhap news agency.

“They expressed willingness to defect,” he said.

A Korea Coast Guard official said relevant authorities were investigating the case, declining to give details.

One of the men was initially identified as a soldier due to a misunderstanding and the government later corrected its statement to say they were both civilians, Yonhap said.

It is the first defection by any North Korean since a historic summit between the two Koreas which saw their leaders agree to pursue the denuclearisation of the peninsula and a permanent peace.

In November last year, a North Korean soldier drove to the heavily guarded border at speed and ran across under a hail of bullets from his own side.

He was hit multiple times in the dramatic defection at Panmunjom truce village.

In 2012, a North Korean soldier walked unchecked through rows of electrified fencing and surveillance cameras, prompting Seoul to sack three field commanders for a security lapse.

In June last year, two of four crew members on a North Korean fishing boat which drifted to the South refused to return home and they were allowed resettle in the South.

A month later, five North Koreans in another small boat crossed the sea border into South Korean waters and expressed their wish to live in the South.