Eighteen North Koreans who had been staying in Thailand after fleeing their country were scheduled to head to South Korea later Thursday, sources said, marking one of the largest defections of North Koreans to Seoul in over two years. The North Korean escapees were to arrive in South Korea's Incheon International Airport, about 40 kilometers west of Seoul, on an Asiana Airlines flight scheduled to leave Bangkok at 10:30 p.m., an official at the South Korean Embassy in Bangkok said.
It takes about five hours to fly from Bangkok to Seoul.
Sixteen of the group, who are among 175 of their countrymen arrested by Thai immigration authorities, hold travel certificates issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), while two others had been aiming to leave Thailand, he said. Thai immigration officials freed the sixteen North Koreans earlier in the day and they were staying at a refugee center operated by nongovernmental organizations, he said, adding that the two other North Koreans were to be released soon.
Earlier in the day, a Thai court imposed a fine of 6,000 baht (US$160) on each of the remaining 159 North Korean escapees who were arrested Tuesday for illegally entering the country, except for 23 minors.
According to Thai immigration officials and police, the 159 North Koreans will be deported after spending 30 days behind bars, or serving a prison term equivalent to the fine.
"Most of the North Korean escapees want to defect to South Korea, so arrangements will be made while they are in prison," an embassy official said on condition of anonymity. "It has yet to be decided whether to send all of them to Seoul at once or in staggered groups."
The UNHCR's Bangkok office said it was consulting with the Thai government on ways to facilitate their move to a third country as soon as possible.
The arrival of the 18 North Koreans will represent another mass defection from the country to South Korea following the transferral of 468 North Korean escapees to Seoul in July 2004.
The North Koreans, mostly women and children, arrived in South Korea from an unidentified Asian country in two groups.
About 5,000 North Koreans have fled to the South since the Korean War ended in 1953. More than 100,000 others are believed to be living in hiding in China, waiting for a chance to travel to the South, according to human rights activists operating in China.
North Korea and its main ally, China, have been cracking down on North Korean escapees in China after a family of 17 North Koreans defected to the South in December 1996.
China has been returning North Korean defectors to their homeland under a 1986 agreement.
Bangkok, Aug. 24 (Yonhap News)
Eighteen N. Korean escapees to arrive in Seoul |
