By Kang Seung-woo
North Korea repatriated two South Koreans Wednesday whom it accused of illegally entering the country last month, the unification ministry said.
According to ministry spokeswoman Park Soo-jin, a 59-year-old man, surnamed Lee, and a 51-year-old woman, surnamed Jin, were sent back to Seoul at 10:15 a.m. through the border village of Panmunjeom.
“The government took them into custody earlier in the day,” Park said in a briefing.
“The government plans to check their health condition and investigate why they entered the North.”
The couple disappeared last month during a trip to a Chinese city that borders the North and the government had sought information about their whereabouts.
The repatriation came two days after the repressive state notified the South Monday of its plan to return them to the South and the unification ministry accepted the proposal.
Later in the day, the North’s Korean Central News Agency reported that the repatriation was carried out as a humanitarian act.
“Their illegal entrance should be punished according to the law, but we mercifully decided to return them to the South after the two South Koreans admitted to have intentionally entered the North and asked for forgiveness,” the state-run news agency said.
It added that Lee and Jin were captured on May 11.
The return has extra weight in that the Kim Jong-un regime said Monday that it is open to talks with the South ― if certain conditions are met ― raising speculation that the unexpected repatriation may be a conciliatory gesture.
The North’s proposal came on the 15th anniversary of a historic inter-Korean summit between then-South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and then-North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
“The return of two South Koreans is an extension of the statement,” said Chang Yong-seok, a senior analyst at Seoul National University’s Institute for Peace and Unification Studies.
“It means that the North showed its willingness to improve inter-Korean ties, so the South is required to change its behavior toward the North.”
Chang also said the action is aimed at easing growing international pressure on the reclusive country.
“The international community has been negative about the North due to its human rights issue and others, further isolating the country diplomatically,” he said.
“So, the North also expected the repatriation will ease that pressure.”
Despite Wednesday’s return, there are still four South Koreans detained in the North ― missionaries Kim Jung-wook, Kim Kuk-gi and Choe Chun-gil, and New York University student Joo Won-moon.
The South Korean government has urged the North to free them, but those requests have been rejected.
The three missionaries are held captive on charges of spying.