You mean to tell me that seven people got into this open boat, drifted South “accidentally, braved nine-foot waves, and now want to go back to North Korea?

Seven North Koreans expressed their desire to return home after they were found drifting south of the Yellow Sea border, a government source here said Tuesday. The North Koreans were detected by South Korean Coast Guard officers Monday afternoon and have since been under investigation by intelligence and police authorities.

“Roughly speaking, they appear to want it (repatriation),” the official, who is well-versed in North Korea-related intelligence, said on condition of anonymity because questioning is still under way. But the Unification Ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs could not yet confirm whether the North Koreans wanted to return home or intended to settle in the South. [Yonhap]

Roughly speaking? How roughly do you need to speak to them before they figure South Korea is just like the North? I suppose anything is possible, but in the context of an eerily similar incident involving a North Korean soldier this year, it seems suspicious.

And we all remember how the last such incident worked out, don’t we?

My suspicions may be paranoid, but frankly, I still don’t have a strong sense of what Lee Myung Bak’s game plan is with respect to North Korea, and how well that game plan has been disseminated to the players on the field. For the most part, I suspect Lee wants Sunshine but isn’t willing to pay up or kiss North Korean ass for it, and expects a little reciprocity in return. If that is the plan, it has long since collided with the hard reality that North Korea doesn’t do reciprocity.