North Korea executes 22 fishermen who strayed into South Korean waters by mistake


Last updated at 21:46 29 February 2008

North Korea has executed 22 fishermen who strayed out of the country's waters by mistake, it was claimed yesterday.

The group were apparently gunned down once they returned to the Stalinist state.

Having drifted into South Korean territory, they had the opportunity to seek asylum, but insisted they never had any intention of doing so.

They told South Korean officials they had strayed accidentally while fishing for clams and oysters, so were sent back to North Korea - and to their deaths.

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The drama began when two North Korean fishing boats containing 14 women and eight men - among them three teenagers - drifted into waters off South Korea's Yeonpyeong island.

South Korean officials, suspecting at first that the group were intending to defect, questioned them about their plans and were told they had accidentally strayed out of North Korean waters.

There were a large number of women on the vessels, it was explained, because they were needed to clean the oysters and clams.

Satisfied with their story, the South Koreans seized the two boats and sent the group back across the border via an overland route.

Last night, a source with the South Korean national intelligence agency said: "We found the group were neither asylum seekers nor spies.

"They didn't want to stay in South Korea, so we sent them back.

"We have heard that they were shot, but we had no idea that would happen."

A source with North Korean contacts added: "They weren't even given the option of going to a prison camp. They were simply executed."

An intelligence official said it was possible the fishing party were executed because they had set out on an expedition without authorisation from North Korea's maritime authorities.

He said if the group had indicated they were defectors, they would not have been sent back to North Korea.

"It would be beyond imagination to repatriate a North Korean defector, given the country's poor human rights conditions," said the official.

Four North Koreans claimed asylum when their wooden boat drifted onto Yeonpyeong island last year.