In this photo provided by the Unification Ministry, an unidentified North Korean fisherman, center, crosses the borderline at the border village of Panmunjom
South Korea said yesterday that it had sent back two North Korean fishermen who were rescued earlier this month from South Korean waters.
The two fishermen were returned through the border village of Panmunjom, where they were greeted by North Korean officials and relatives, said an official from Seoul’s Unification Ministry, who didn’t want to be named, citing office rules.
Seoul has rejected the North’s demands to return three other fishermen from the same boat. Seoul says they wanted to defect to the South. The ministry official said those three fishermen were receiving resettlement training.
The five fishermen’s damaged boat was found drifting in waters near South Korea’s Ulleung island on July 4. North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency called South Korea’s decision not to return the three fishermen an “unforgivable infringement” of human rights and an “extremely evil” provocation.
The two Koreas are still technically at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.
Tensions between the countries have increased recently over the opening of a U.N. office in Seoul tasked with monitoring human rights in North Korea, and the North’s detainment of several South Koreans, including two who were sentenced to life in prison last month on charges of spying for the South. Kim Tong-hyung, Seoul, AP
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