South Korean man arrested for botched defection bid to North


According to the National Intelligence Service and the prosecutors, a 34-year-old man, whom the press did not identify, was found to have secretly entered North Korea and was later deported to China, from where he returned to South Korea. He was arrested on charges under the National Security Law. According to the authorities, the man harangued his friends about "South Korea's subordination to the United States" and the unfairness of capitalism as a social system.

On 1 September, the man entered North Korea illegally via Jilin, China, crossing the Tumen River and then entering Hoeryeong, North Hamgyeong Province, in the North.

The investigation by the National Intelligence Service, officials said, showed that the man dropped out of high school and then worked at a garment factory. After he entered North Korea, he told a women working in the fields, "I am from South Korea. I want to live in an equal society like the North." North Korean authorities welcomed him with a banquet but interrogated him the next day about his motives for defecting and was sent to a detention camp for foreigners. For 40 days, until 9 October, he was interrogated by the military and Pyongyang's Immigration authorities. Eventually, he was expelled to China. On 21 October, the Chinese government deported him to South Korea.   ¶ 10/28/2004 02:18:00 PM