(LEAD) S. Korea repatriates N. Korean fisherman
2014/06/03 22:32
SEOUL, June 3 (Yonhap) -- South Korea handed over a North Korean fisherman to the communist country on Tuesday, three days after he was picked up from a boat drifting off South Korea's east coast along with two others, an official said.
The repatriation took place at Panmunjom, a neutral village on the inter-Korean border, according to the unification ministry official.
The move came a day after South Korea told the North that it will allow the two other fishermen to stay in the South by respecting their wish on humanitarian grounds.
South Korea said the two fishermen expressed their wish to remain in South Korea while the third man said he wanted to go back to his communist homeland.
South Korea accepts North Korean defectors who want to stay in the South.
The North, which has repeatedly called on the South to repatriate all three North Korean fishermen, demanded to be able to interview the other two face-to-face.
"It's necessary to meet with them and check whether their desire to defect is true," Pyongyang said in a message later in the day through a dialogue channel at Panmunjom, a neutral village on the inter-Korean border.
"Bring the two fishermen to Panmunjon and let us meet them face-to-face."
It said that if South Korea rejected its request, it would regard the South's move as an abduction and take resolute action in response.
The South Korean government, however, rejected Pyongyang's demand.
"The fishermen sought a kind of asylum. It's not appropriate in terms of human rights protection to send them to the North or bring them to Panmunjon," said an official from the Ministry of Unification, which is in charge of relations with North Korea.
The three men, who are in their 20s and 30s, were rescued by a South Korean coast guard vessel near Ulleung Island on Saturday after their ship ran adrift due to engine problems.
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