Flight brings quiet response in South Korean officialdom

The South Korean government is taking a very cautious stance on the 21 North Koreans who defected to South Korea on Monday, worried about the effect on relations between the two Koreas, which have only recently begun to thaw.

The government emphasized that the arrival of the North Koreans does not indicate the beginning of a "mass exodus through seas," a prediction made earlier by Norbert Vollertsen, a German physician who has done extensive aid work in North Korea, and which many nongovernmental organizations have said would happen.

A government official said that since the flight did not originate in China, nongovernmental organizations, South Korean or foreign, could not have had a hand in the defections. North Korea's recently launched economic reforms have heightened expectations that the country's economic conditions may improve, thus reducing the incentive for people who risk their lives to reach the South, the official said.

North Korea is seen as highly unlikely to take issue with these latest defections. In the past, North Korea never commented directly on such cases, delaying an indirect response until later.

The incident has shown the South Korean military that North Korea's maritime patrol system is not as tight as previously thought. According to a military official, North Korea's radar is outdated, preventing the country from monitoring its territorial waters in the Yellow Sea. North Korea's Yellow Sea Fleet, which guards the sea off North Pyeongan province, where the defectors' flight originated, is composed mainly of landing vessels, making a thorough observation of the coastal area difficult, the official said.

Another military official said North Korea's naval forces are concentrated near the Northern Limit Line, and other coastal areas are not as tightly guarded. "The North Korean navy operates only key forces at any given time because of its serious fuel shortage," he said. "Unlike in South Korea, there are no patrol boats conducting inspections across all parts of the Yellow Sea. Once a boat departs, it's not difficult to set sail on the high seas." The official said reporting the arrival into and departure from sea ports is not thorough in the North Korea.

by Lee Chul-hee, Ko Soo-suk