NKorea set to return 6 detained SKoreans
Print Edition
Pyongyang plans to allow six detained South Koreans to return home, officials in Seoul said yesterday, an unusual move that accompanied its approval of a visit by South Korean lawmakers to a recently restarted factory park run by the two sides in North Korea.
North Korea’s Red Cross sent a letter to South Korea saying the detained South Koreans will cross over the heavily armed border at the so-called truce village of Panmunjom today, according to a short statement from South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which is responsible for cross-border ties.
The statement says Seoul plans to accept the South Koreans and investigate how they entered North Korea. Seoul provided only scant details, saying they were men ranging in age from 27 to 67.
The announcement, which some South Koreans saw as a conciliatory gesture, came as North Korea approved a tour next week by 24 South Korean lawmakers to the jointly run Kaesong factory park, located just over the border. The moves come a month after Pyongyang abruptly canceled reunions for families separated during the 1950-53 Korean War.
The Kaesong park is the last remaining inter-Korean project. It reopened last month after Pyongyang had withdrawn its workers in April during a period of unusually high tensions that saw North Korea threaten South Korea and the United States with nuclear strikes and vow to restart nuclear fuel production.
South Korean companies that operate in Kaesong welcomed the lawmakers’ trip to meet with South Korean managers and discuss operations, saying in a statement that lingering uncertainties about Kaesong are hurting business. The lawmakers aren’t scheduled to meet with North Korean officials during next Wednesday’s visit.
South Korea estimates that more than 500 South Koreans have been kidnapped and detained by North Korea since the Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.
While it’s not clear why the South Koreans to be released today went to North Korea, or why Pyongyang is releasing them now, there’s media speculation in Seoul that they may have either voluntarily crossed the border or been captured near it.
South Koreans visiting North Korea without government approval can be punished by up to 10 years in prison under South Korea’s National Security Law.
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