hankyoreh

Twenty three North Korean defectors in Thailand will likely be allowed to take shelter in the United States as early as next month, a Washington-based radio reported Tuesday.

The defectors, now at an immigration camp, were informed of their schedules for medical checkups and a final interview, the last step in obtaining refugee status from the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok, Radio Free Asia said.

They will enter the U.S. in February at the earliest if they successfully pass through the checking process, the radio said, adding that a delay is possible, depending on consultations between the U.S. and Thai governments.

Another male defector is seeking asylum in South Korea, the report said.

The U.S. adopted the North Korea Human Rights Act in 2004 to accommodate North Korean defectors. Since the first group of six North Korean defectors arrived in the United States in May 2006, Washington has accepted a total of 37 North Koreans, according to the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington-based non-profit think tank dedicated to the study of the movement of people worldwide.


SEOUL, Jan. 29 (Yonhap)