By Kim Tae Hong
The Japanese government is investigating the option of
transferring 9 North Koreans picked up yesterday off the country’s west
coast to South Korea.
According to reports, the 9 individuals were picked up from a fishing
boat drifting in the sea off Ishikawa Prefecture on the west coast of
the main Japanese island of Honshu.
The 9 have apparently been designated as defectors in accordance with
their wishes, and the Japanese government has embarked on an
investigation into complying with their expressed desire to be sent on
to South Korea.
Speaking about the issue yesterday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu
Fujimura told reporters, “We will respond properly with reference to
past examples.”
Although cases such as this are rare thanks to the distances involved,
in June, 2007 Japan did transfer to South Korea a family of 4 castaway
defectors picked up near the port city of Fukaura, further north in
Aomori Prefecture. Therefore, if investigation of the 9 reveals nothing
untoward, it is likely that they will arrive in South Korea in the near
future.
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