N. Korean family decided to cross border amid tightened COVID

The entrance of the North Korean Refugee Protection Center in Siheung, south of Seoul, is seen in this June 23, 2021 file photo. Yonhap

A group of North Koreans who crossed the de facto inter-Korean sea border aboard a fishing boat earlier this month fled the North to escape Pyongyang's rigid COVID-19 restrictions, they were quoted as saying by Seoul's spy agency Friday.

Military authorities found the group of nearly 10 North Koreans, presumed to be a family, on a ship approaching the Northern Limit Line in the Yellow Sea at night on May 6. The government has since been questioning them to verify whether they have an intention to defect to South Korea.

"In an interagency questioning, the defectors said they had admired our society while watching South Korean television and decided to defect as they grew exhausted of the North Korean regime amid tightened social control stemming from the pandemic," the National Intelligence Service, one of the government organizations handling the questioning, said.

The North Koreans are believed to be relatives by marriage, but the spy agency declined to further elaborate, citing risks of exposing their identities and safety concerns of their relatives in the North.

The local daily Dong-A Ilbo reported earlier that the North Koreans, known to be two families, have expressed their intention to defect. If confirmed, it would mark the first such defection case, involving a family group, since July 2017.

Once the interagency questioning wraps up and they are confirmed to be willing to defect here, they are expected to undergo a 12-week resettlement education program to adjust to life in South Korea.

In recent years, the number of North Korean defectors here dropped due largely to the reclusive state's stringent border controls put in place in the wake of COVID-19. The number, which was tallied at around 1,000 in 2019, dipped to 229 in 2020 and 63 in 2021. Last year, it stood at 67. (Yonhap)