108 Illegal Entrants Including NK Defectors Disappeared

The Police are searching the traces of the 108 illegal entrants including Chosun-tribes in China and the North Korean defectors, who smuggled themselves in the country through the West coast and disappeared in the area of Dangjin, Chungnam.

However, the Maritime Police Agency, the National Police Agency, and the Military have not recognized their illegal entrance until three days after the incident.

According to the Dangjin Police Station, the 108 (including 20 women) illegal entrants including North Korean Kim Hong-Kyun (37) and Chosun-tribes in China arrived at the West coast on June 29 and stayed at a J apartment in Yugok-Ri and scattered themselves, except for Mr. Kim, in groups of two.

The incident was revealed by the arrest of Mr. Kim, who had injured his legs and could not afford the cost for his runaway, by a resident`s report to the police on July 1.

Mr. Kim testified that ``We took on board of three fishing boats in China on June 26 and transferred to a mother ship and arrived in an unidentified coast of Korea. On arriving there, we moved by three vans to a high-rise apartment.``

He also said, ``In the apartment, people ran away by passenger cars and vans in groups of two after paying 13.5 million won per each person to a guide.``

The 15-story apartment, in which the illegal entrants were stationed, was a dormitory of the Hanbo Steel but has been vacant since the bankruptcy of the company.

Mr. Kim said in the police investigation that he is a North Korean defector from the South Hamkyong province and has his wife and two children in the North. He went to Russia as a lumberjack in 1990 and moved to China in 1994. He had worked there as a bath-assistant at a public bathhouse and a LP gas deliverer for a living.

Lee Ki-Jin doyoce@donga.com