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N. Korea demands S. Korea identify 3 defector fishermen: Seoul

July 10, 2015

North Korean civilians fish at the port in Wonsan, North Korea. Wonsan, a sleepy port on North Korea’s east coast. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

SEOUL, July 10 (Yonhap) — The Unification Ministry said Friday it has rejected North Korea’s demand to reveal the identities of three North Korean fishermen who were rescued in the South’s waters and voiced their wish to defect to Seoul.

They are among five North Korean sailors who were rescued by the South’s coast guard on Saturday while drifting on a vessel due to engine failure near the eastern island of Ulleung. Two others expressed their hope to return home.

But the North has urged the South to repatriate all of the five fishermen, vowing to take “stern actions” if Seoul refuses to do so.

Earlier in the day, the North’s Red Cross sent a notice to the South saying that Seoul should reveal who the three sailors are and permit their families in the North to meet them, according to the ministry.

“Seoul plans to deal with the case in accordance with how past cases have been handled and under humanitarian grounds,” the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said it is “not appropriate” to unveil their names and to permit their families to meet them, given international practices.

Seoul repeated its call for Pyongyang to immediately accept only the two sailors who have explicitly expressed their wishes to return home.

The South had planned to send them back home on Friday through the truce village of Panmunjom, but the North has not accepted Seoul’s request.

Tension on a divided peninsula remains still high over North Korea’s provocative actions, including its launch of a ballistic missile from a submarine in May.

Despite such tension, the two Koreas have a practice of repatriating civilians who accidentally land in each other’s territory.