SOUTH KOREA: RESCUED NORTH KOREAN SAILORS RETURN HOME

Описание: (5 Mar 1996) Korean/Nat

Two North Korean sailors, rescued after their freighter sank in the East Sea four days ago returned to North Korea Tuesday through the demilitarized zone.

The sailors Li Jin Kyu, 34, an engineer, and Kim Il Chul, 28, a cook looked relatively healthy as they walked across the heavily armed border into North Korea.

The bodies of two drowned fellow seamen were also returned.

Li, Kim and the two dead sailors were found south of the eastern sea border last Friday, clinging to a plastic lifeboat which had capsized but did not sink.

The swift return appears to be aimed at easing mounting tensions between the rival Koreas.

Previous repatriations were often delayed by political and military tensions.

South Korea's Red Cross said the sailors were sent home "out of a humanitarian and compatriotic spirit", but even this act of compassion had the air of a military exchange.

SOUNDBITE: (KOREAN)
"We announced through the media the day after the rescue that the sailors should be returned swiftly. North Korea called us through the North-South direct line that they wanted them back immediately."
SUPER CAPTION: Byung-Woong Lee, Secretary General the Republic of Korea National Red Cross

The sailors told South Korean investigators that their 9,996-ton coal carrier Yombunjin-ho with 37 crewmen went down in rough seas.

All but the two were believed to have drowned.

Kang hoped that the swift repatriation would be met by similar North Korean moves to return a number of South Korean fishermen currently in North Korean custody.

There are currently 440 South Korean fishermen in North Korea.

The Koreas, divided into the communist North and the capitalist South in 1945, are still technically at war, with no peace treaty signed at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

Their border is the world's most heavily armed, with nearly 2 million troops deployed on both sides.

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