Their arrival has become a bitter point of contention between the rival Koreas, with Seoul saying they defected and chose to resettle in South Korea on their own and Pyongyang insisting they were kidnapped by South Korean spies. North Korea (DPRK) is ready to deliver a strike on the American bases in the region in case of provocations, a representative of the DPRK National Defense Commission (NDC) said in a statement released by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Monday.
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The revelations included map coordinates of the United States air force bases in Osan, a city some 40 km south of Seoul, and the city of Gunsan as well as personal information on a South Korean national who works at a local welfare group.
Going from North Korea to South Korea has always been complicated by concerns for family left behind, and Pyongyang appeared to be trying to capitalize on those feelings by taking the unusual step of allowing the restaurant workers’ parents to be interviewed by foreign media.
But the progressive Kyunghyang Sinmun, on the other hand, published an editorial Tuesday stating the South Korean government has suddenly changed its attitude on the privacy of defectors after the election.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) also said that the country is working to add more security at the military units.
President Park Geun-hye says that there are concerns over the possibility of terror attacks by North Korea with direct or indirect links to worldwide terrorist groups.
At a recent camp session on South Korea’s Jeju Island, 120 ninth-graders rolled their suitcases into a sprawling beach-side resort lined with palm trees, snapping selfies on the resort lawn. It has more than 900 members who are prominent lawyers.
The Unification Ministry’s unprecedented announcement of the defection, made just days ahead of the April 13 general election, stoked rumors that the National Intelligence Service had orchestrated the escape with a political intention, and that some of them were on the run without even knowing their destination.
Last year, South Korea estimated that the North’s “cyber army” had doubled in size over two years to 6,000 troops, and the South has been scrambling to ramp up its capability to meet what it considers to be a rising threat.
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The neutral Han estuary is of particular interest for its crab stocks at this time of year, encouraging Chinese crews to risk arrest to enter the area before fleeing – often back to North Korean waters.
