A North Korean woman was allowed to fly to South Korea yesterday to seek political asylum, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
The woman, Park Young-shil, 32, took a flight from CKS airport yesterday afternoon to Inchon.
"We respect her intention to seek political asylum in South Korea," a source at the ministry, who declined to be named, said.
PHOTO: LIU HSIN-TEH, TAIPEI TIMES
"The [South] Korean government has formally requested the ministry to help her make a transfer in Taiwan to facilitate her move to seek political asylum in [South] Korea," the ministry said in a press release yesterday afternoon.
The ministry has worked with the Korean Mission in Taipei, the de facto South Korean embassy, during the past few days in handling Park's move to seek political asylum in Seoul.
Park was carried by Basic Spirit, a Panama-registered cargo ship, to Kaohsiung on Wednesday after she was rescued by the ship on July 13 at sea near Qinhuang island in Hebei Province, China.
Officials from the Korean Mission visited the woman on Wednesday in a move to help clarify her identity and her intentions, officials said.
The woman fled North Korea and reached Jilin Province in May 2001 before moving to work in a Korean restaurant in Hebei Province, the ministry said.
"She learned from TV reports that she would be able to make her way to South Korea if she sought political asylum in another country," the ministry said in the press release.
"So she jumped into the sea near Qinhuang island on July 13 and was then saved by the Panama-registered cargo ship while drifting on the water," the statement said.
The ministry's investigative report on Park's case said she was in good health before leaving for South Korea.
Officials at the Korean Mission were not available for comment.
Officials from both sides directly handling the case kept a low profile as some dubbed the issue as "highly sensitive."
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique