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North Korean family of four lands in South Korea

North Korean defectors are escorted by South Korean officials upon arrival from Japan at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, yesterday. PHOTO: AP

A North Korean family of four arrived in South Korea yesterday after leaving Japan, where they landed two weeks ago after a daring boat voyage.

"Liberty, democracy, human rights!" yelled one of the North Koreans as the couple and their two adult sons arrived at the international airport in Incheon.

The speaker appeared to be the father, but it was difficult to confirm because the North Koreans had most of their faces covered with big white masks and wore hats.

"I feel good," the man said, adding their health was good. Airport security officials quickly escorted the family away.

The North Koreans arrived in northern Japan two weeks ago after a six-day voyage in an open boat.

They are the first defectors from communist North Korea to arrive in Japan by boat in about two decades.

They told investigators they had fled to escape extreme poverty and asked for asylum in South Korea.

Following an initial police investigation where their boat landed in Aomori, 580km northeast of Tokyo, the defectors had stayed at an immigration facility.

Japanese authorities arranged with South Korea for their departure after Seoul agreed to accept them, officials said.

Japan's Foreign Ministry said it could not immediately confirm their departure, but said an official announcement would be made soon.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the report, citing its policy of not commenting on North Korean defectors because of concerns for their safety.

North Koreans still in the country are believed to face harsh punishment by Pyongyang's hard-line government when their relatives are found to have escaped the communist country.

The defectors left North Korea's northeastern port of Chongjin on May 27 in a 7m wooden boat, planning to head directly to South Korea. But they changed their route and headed across the Sea of Japan to Japan because they feared tight security near the border between the two Koreas.

After their arrival in South Korea, North Korean defectors usually go through three months of assimilation training. They are entitled to various forms of government assistance, including housing and settlement aid.

Thousands of North Koreans have fled their isolated homeland to escape poverty and political oppression in recent years, often by land through China and Southeast Asia.

More than 10,000 North Koreans have defected to South Korea since the Korean War ended in 1953. More than 130 people who have fled North Korea through third countries are currently in Japan.

In 1987, 11 crew members of a North Korean ship arrived at a port in western Japan and then defected to South Korea via Taiwan.
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