Twenty-one North Koreans have been found on a boat in South Korean waters in the Yellow Sea, the largest such arrival in nine months, an official said yesterday.
The boat was found floating off the northwestern South Korean island of Socheong earlier in the week and was handed over to the navy, a South Korean Coast Guard official in the port city of Incheon said.
He declined to be identified or provide more details because authorities were still questioning the North Koreans.
It was not clear how or why the North Koreans arrived in South Korean waters. South Korea’s National Intelligence Service declined to comment, and neither Ministry of Unification officials nor Joint Chiefs of Staff officials answered telephone calls.
The arrival was the largest of its kind since February, when 31 North Koreans floated south on a boat in the Yellow Sea. Seoul later repatriated 27 of them and said the other four were allowed to remain in South Korea because they wanted to defect. North Korea accused the South of holding the four against their will. South Korea has denied the allegations.
Tensions are high in the Yellow Sea area after a deadly North Korean artillery attack on a South Korean island last year.
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