A South Korean military vessel tows a North Korean boat that carried people believed to be seeking to defect from the country, to a port in Yangyang, South Korea, on October 24, 2023.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

“Four North Koreans were found in a small wooden boat in South Korean waters on October 24 in what is likely a rare case of North Koreans taking a risky sea voyage to flee to the South,” Seoul officials said.

More than 30,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea to avoid poverty and political oppression since the late 1990s. A vast majority of them have come via a land route with China and defecting by sea is uncommon because it’s more dangerous.

A South Korean coast guard ship found the boat south of the two Koreas’ eastern sea border on Tuesday morning, after a report by a fishing boat. “The four people on board identified themselves as North Koreans,” coast guard officials said.

South Korea’s military said it secured the custody of the North Koreans in coordination with the coast guard, after chasing their boat along the sea border. A military statement said the North Koreans were suspected of defecting to South Korea but gave no further details.

South Korean public broadcaster KBS, citing an unidentified government official, reported that the four North Koreans — a man and three women — are members of one family. KBS said they were not armed and did not wear military uniforms when they were found.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry declined to provide personal details of the four, saying an investigation was under way. North Korea’s state media did not immediately report on the four North Koreans.

North Korean defectors are required to undergo questioning by South Korean authorities to determine whether their desire to resettle is genuine.

In 2019, South Korea deported two North Korean fishermen who said they wished to resettle, after determining they were criminals who had killed 16 fellow crew members. Earlier, several North Koreans were arrested after South Korean investigations concluded they were spies who had entered the country posing as defectors.

The 2019 deportation drew withering criticism by human rights groups, which argued that South Korea’s liberal government at the time had hurriedly expelled the fishermen in the hopes of improving ties with North Korea, after learning North Korean authorities were pursuing them.

Some past defections triggered tensions between the two Koreas. South Korea accepts those who choose to resettle in the South, but North Korea often says its people are held against their will in the South and demand they be returned.

If the four North Koreans found Tuesday are determined to be genuine defectors, it would be the second case of North Koreans fleeing to the South by sea this year. In May, nine defected by sea off the Korean Peninsula’s west coast, according to South Korea’s Unification Ministry.

In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, bottom centre, attends a meeting of the country’s Parliament in Pyongyang, North Korea.
| Photo Credit: AP

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for an exponential increase in production of nuclear weapons and for his country to play a larger role in a coalition of nations confronting the United States in a “new Cold War,” state media said on September 28.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim made the comments during a two-day session of the country’s Parliament which amended the constitution to include his policy of expanding the country’s nuclear weapons programme.

The Supreme People’s Assembly’s session on Tuesday and Wednesday came after Kim travelled to Russia’s Far East this month to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and visit military and technology sites.

The trip sparked Western concerns about a possible arms alliance in which North Korea would supply Mr. Putin with badly needed munitions to fuel his war on Ukraine in exchange for economic aid and advanced Russian technologies to enhance North Korea’s nuclear and missile systems.

As North Korea slowly ends its pandemic lockdown, Kim has been actively boosting his partnerships with Moscow and Beijing as he attempts to break out of diplomatic isolation and join a united front against Washington. He has described the world as entering a “new Cold War” and that North Korea should advance its nuclear capabilities in response.

KCNA’s reports on Kim’s comments came a day after North Korea confirmed the release of U.S. Army Private Travis King, who is now being flown back to America, two months after he sprinted across the heavily fortified border into the North.

King’s relatively swift expulsion defied speculation that North Korea might drag out his detention to squeeze concessions from the United States, and possibly reflected the North’s disinterest in diplomacy with Washington.

KCNA said members of the assembly gave unanimous approval to a new clause in the constitution to “ensure the country’s right to existence and development, deter war and protect regional and global peace by rapidly developing nuclear weapons to a higher level.”

North Korea’s “nuclear force-building policy has been made permanent as the basic law of the state, which no one is allowed to flout with anything,” Kim said in a speech at the assembly. He stressed the need to “push ahead with the work for exponentially boosting the production of nuclear weapons and diversifying the nuclear strike means,” KCNA said.

Kim pointed to what he described as a growing threat posed by a hostile United States and its expanding military cooperation with South Korea and Japan, accusing them of creating the “Asian version of NATO, the root cause of war and aggression.” “This is just the worst actual threat, not threatening rhetoric or an imaginary entity,” he said.

Kim urged his diplomats to “further promote solidarity with the nations standing against the U.S. and the West’s strategy for hegemony.”

U.S. made 2023 more dangerous, says North Korea, accuses it of fomenting an Asian NATO

South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles relations with North Korea, said the North Korean constitutional amendment confirms Kim’s unwillingness to relinquish his nuclear weapons programme and his unwavering commitment to advancing that arsenal. It said in a statement that South Korea will continue to expand its military cooperation with the U.S. and Japan and work closer with other international partners to increase pressure on North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest level in years as North Korea has test-fired more than 100 missiles since the start of 2022 and the U.S. has expanded its military exercises with its Asian allies, in tit-for-tat responses.

Last year, the assembly passed a new nuclear doctrine into law which authorises pre-emptive nuclear strikes if North Korea’s leadership is perceived as under threat.