Four N. Korean defectors cross NLL on wooden boat

In a pre-dawn operation on Tuesday, a North Korean family of four, including a woman in her 60s and two children, crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the East Sea on a small wooden boat and defected to South Korea. This marks the first maritime defection by North Korean citizens since November 2019, when two North Korean crew members defected on a wooden boat but were later forcibly repatriated. After crossing the NLL, the boat carrying the North Korean family reached the waters off Sokcho, Gangwon Province. Still, it went unnoticed by South Korean military authorities until spotted by a civilian vessel, revealing a potential gap in border surveillance yet again.

According to South Korean military sources, around 5:30 a.m., a suspicious vessel heading diagonally southward from the northeastern part of the NLL, about 20 kilometers off the coast of Sokcho, was initially detected on land-based radar. Additional tracking was carried out using thermal observation devices (TOD) around 6:30 a.m. Subsequently, South Korean coast guard and navy vessels were dispatched to the scene, and the intentions of the defectors were confirmed. They were then escorted to Sokcho Harbor. The North Korean defectors were reported to have traveled on an 8-meter-long wooden boat equipped with an engine.

The defectors are reported to include a woman in her 60s, her two children (a young man and a young woman), and her younger sister. Authorities are conducting a joint investigation to determine the circumstances of their defection.

"We detected signs of North Korean patrol boats conducting search operations in the vicinity of the NLL in the East Sea, prompting us to dispatch our naval vessels and maritime surveillance aircraft for an emergency response," a South Korean military official emphasized. However, it was not until around 7:10 a.m. that local fishermen operating nearby at sea reported the situation to the Coast Guard. Until then, the South Korean military had not detected the North Korean vessel crossing the NLL. The official explained that the NLL is over 400 kilometers long, making detecting small wooden boats crossing the line challenging.


Sang-Ho Yun ysh1005@donga.com