North Korean Border-crossers hope for mercy

One of the North Korean illegal immigrants on the way to a Bangkok court yesterday. Picture / Reuters

BANGKOK - The 175 North Koreans detained in Thailand after smuggling themselves out of the reclusive communist state could be sent to South Korea soon, a spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency said yesterday.

Thai police arrested the North Koreans, most of them women and children, at a house near the South Korean Embassy in Bangkok on Tuesday after a tip from neighbours suspicious about so many people thronging around it.

Among the group were 16 immigrants who already had travel documents from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

"The 16 North Koreans have been released from Thai custody and we anticipate that in the next few days they will go to South Korea," UNHCR spokeswoman Kitty McKinsey said in Bangkok.

Thai police said the 16 were under the protection of South Korean diplomats.

The rest began arriving at a Bangkok courthouse yesterday to face charges of illegal entry.

But McKinsey said talks with the Thai Government on their fate were continuing in a "positive vein".

"We hope that all 159 will be allowed to go to a third country and the case will be resolved very quickly."

She did not specify the country, but said that in the past most North Korean refugees had gone to South Korea.

Police said the refugees had travelled through China and Myanmar before crossing into northern Thailand in small family groups.

South Korea, which has lent quiet, behind-the-scenes assistance in similar situations in the past, almost always grants citizenship to North Korean refugees.

- REUTERS