Repatriated NK Defectors

These photos released yesterday are believed to have been taken at a detention house on the North Korean border by Chinese authorities to inform Pyongyang of the names, dates of birth, and heights of North Korean defectors caught in China. Choi Yong-ae (left), who was arrested Dec. 5, 2008, and repatriated to North Korea a week later, and Yun Eun-shil look gloomy. The numbers, which are believed to be their prisoner numbers, were originally five digits but some of them were deleted by Dong-A Ilbo editors.