Awwal 28, 1432 H/March 3, 2011, SPA -- Four of the 31 North Koreans who had drifted across a tensely guarded sea border between the two Koreas have expressed their wish to defect and will not be sent back when the rest are repatriated on Friday, the South said, according to Reuters. Such defections tend to anger the North, a tightly controlled society that restricts movement of people and flow of information to maintain a dynastic leadership's grip on power. Late on Thursday, the North's Red Cross rejected the notion that the four were defecting, accusing South Korean authorities of trying to hold them back against their wishes and demanding their return with the rest. The Red Cross in the South had earlier said 27 of the North Koreans and the vessel they sailed south off the peninsula's west coast on Feb. 5 in thick fog would be repatriated through land and sea borders on Friday. Their boat was spotted near Yeonpyeong island, which lies just 11 km (7 miles) from the North's soil and was bombarded in November by North Korean artillery, killing four people. The incident, and the sinking of a South Korean navy ship in March 2010, raised tensions on the peninsula to the highest level in decades. The first attempt to restart dialogue broke down in February when military officials ended two days of meetings without agreement on meeting again. The South said it saw no sign the North was serious about talks. Regional powers have nudged the rivals to defuse the crisis and restart international talks over the North's nuclear programme. The two Koreas are still technically at war because an armistice, not a treaty, ended the 1950-53 Korean War. -- SPA
