hankyoreh

North Hwanghae Province

In a report Friday, North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, “Recently, the presiding organization arrested four residents of South Chosun (South Korea) who entered our republic illegally.” The report also stated, “The arrested South Chosun residents are currently being questioned by the presiding organization.” However, the agency did not reveal identities of the detained South Koreans or the circumstances surrounding their entry.


The South Korean government is currently unable to verify the ‘detention’ aspect of the statement. A Cheong Wa Dae (the presidential office in South Korea or Blue House) official said, “If the North Korean report is accurate, it is presumed that the South Koreans crossed the into North Korea from the shared Chinese border.” The same official said, “We are currently looking into the situation from different angles through intelligence organizations, including the possibility that they are tourists, missionaries to North Korea or activists connected with North Korean defectors, but there has not yet been any confirmation of the truth of the reports or the identity of the detainees.”

Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung said, “It has been confirmed that the 1,054 South Korean citizens currently staying in Pyongyang, Mt. Kumgang, Kaesong and other regions are not in any danger.”

A Defense Ministry official said, “Nothing has come to light concerning the possibility that people have crossed by sea, on a boat or via the Military Demarcation Line.”

Currently, the government view is that there is a strong chance the individuals would have crossed through either China or Russia, and while they are focusing on China, which has frequent traffic with North Korea. Last year, North Korea used the expression “illegal entry” in reference to two U.S. journalists and 29-year-old Korean-American Robert Park, all of whom were detained after crossing into North Korea at the Chinese border.


Some observers are speculating that like Park, the four people reportedly detained on Friday may have been activists involved in North Korean human rights or defector issues. Abductees’ Family Union head Choi Sung-yong said, “I have heard that a few days ago, four people were arrested after crossing the border at Namyang, near the Chinese border city of Tumen on the Duman River, saying that they had ‘come to see Kim Jong-il.’”

Choi added, “In light of the fact that North Korea used the term ‘residents of South Chosun,’ there is a chance they are activists with political goals rather than defectors from North Korea.”

Both Reverend Chun Ki-won of the Durihana Missionary Foundation, a group that supports missionary efforts in North Korea and defectors from the country, and Jo Sung-rae, head of Global Justice Prayer Network, a group connected with Park’s entry into North Korea, said they knew nothing about the situation. While there is the possibility that ordinary tourists crossed the border by mistake or without premeditation, nothing has been detected through local government offices.

Some observers are expressing concerns that the issue could be connected with an increased level in alarm in North Korea following South Korea’s recent efforts to step up collecting North Korean intelligence. In a joint statement issued by its Ministry of People’s Security and National Security Agency on Feb. 8, North Korea said, “The South Chosun authorities’ attempt to overthrow the republic are crossing into dangerous territory.” As examples of this, the statement cited North Korean internal disturbance’ operations through the border region and maneuvers to overthrow the regime involving various espionage capabilities and methods.

Following the first inter-Korean summit meeting in 2000, North Korea has adopted the measure of deporting to China, without trial and following a certain period of questioning, any South Koreans who entered North Korea illegally via the Chinese border. However, in view of the cooling of inter-Korean relations during the Lee Myung-bak administration and North Korea’s increasingly sensitive attitude regarding criticism of human rights issues and the collection of North Korea intelligence, observers are saying that if the detention is true, the situation could drag out over the long term. In other words, the issue could become a factor harming inter-Korean relations like the case of Yu Seong-jin, the Hyundai Asan employee detained last year at the Kaesong Industrial Complex.

Other observers are saying that given its recent approach regarding international dialogue, including mention of the possibility of resuming the six-party talks, North Korea will likely try to resolve the situation in the near future through meetings between authorities.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]