The North Korean authorities have not reported domestically any news about the 31 people who floated into South Korean waters in early February, all of whom Pyongyang is (externally) demanding be repatriated despite the fact that four of them have expressed the desire to remain in South Korea.
There have been no articles about the four in Rodong Shinmun, the publication of the Chosun Workers’ Party through which the North Korean people learn of the position of the regime, and they have not been mentioned by Chosun Central TV news.
However, taking quite the opposite approach, Uriminzokkiri, the website managed by North Korea’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland which targets the international community, has hosted no fewer than 60 articles on the subject since the four people’s intentions were formally announced, from reports, statements and interviews to letters from the four people’s families, poems and even videos, all of which have demanded the repatriation of all 31 to the North and criticized the “divisive”, “scheming” stance of the South Korean authorities.
For example, in one of the latest editorials on the website, released yesterday, the North Korean authorities asserted, “The South Chosun authorities are adamantly opposed to our suggestion of a meeting with their family members. This is a shameless deception by the factions of the Ministry of Unification to justify luring in and kidnapping them.”
Of course, this difference is because the North Korean authorities worry about the ramifications of the issue and possible unrest among the North Korean people were they to learn more about the story.
One defector explained, “There is not one person who does not know that South Korea is doing better than North Korea. Therefore, if the fact that some of those who drifted south changed their minds and decided to stay begins to circulate, people will think about how much better the South’s situation must be if they could change their minds even though their families are here.”
Uriminjokkiri has been broadcasting propaganda aimed at Koreans since 2003, and speakers of English, Russian, Chinese and Japanese since 2005.
