Another Defection by Sea

ABC News reports that an entire family has sailed to South Korea. It’s the second sea-borne defection in a week, and doesn’t include last week’s defection through the wire at the DMZ:

A couple and their nine-year-old son defected from famine-hit North Korea by boat on Sunday and were being questioned on South Korea’s western island of Baekryong, the military said.

The South Korean navy picked up the 42-year-old man, identified as Hong, his 39-year-old wife and their son after they crossed the border in the Yellow Sea, officials at the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff office said.

The last couple to defect (just a week ago) arrived at the same island. The Chosun Ilbo tells us more about the family and its origin:

They were said to have left Gumipo in North Korea’s Hwanghae Province at dawn. They were quoted as saying they fled the harsh living conditions in the North.

The Hong family is the second to defect by sea this month after a couple defected to the South in a dinghy on June 17.

Careful observers will note that Hwanghae is North Korea’s main rice-growing region. If famine has spread to Hwanghae, the North is in serious trouble indeed. Yonhap adds some ominous details about how the Southern authorities are handling the matter:

The North Koreans said they left the North on Saturday due to poverty. An investigation was under way to determine their exact motive for defecting.

Why ominous, you ask? Because the South Koreans have told us what that investigation might entail.