NORTH KOREA-SOUTH KOREA/COUPLE North Korea sends South Korean couple home

Record ID: 151646

  • Title: NORTH KOREA-SOUTH KOREA/COUPLE North Korea sends South Korean couple home
  • Date: 17th June 2015
  • Summary: PANMUNJOM, DEMILITARIZED ZONE, SOUTH KOREA (FILE- FEBRUARY 4, 2015) (REUTERS) TRUCE VILLAGE OF PANMUNJOM SEEN FROM KOREAN SIDE NORTH KOREAN SOLDIER STANDING VARIOUS OF SOUTH KOREAN SOLDIER STANDING NEXT TO UNITED NATIONS COMMAND MILITARY ARMISTICE COMMISSION CONFERENCE BUILDING MORE OF NORTH KOREAN SOLDIER STANDING SOUTH AND NORTH KOREAN SOLIDER FACING EACH OTHER MORE OF T
  • Embargoed: 2nd July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA34CWVPC2CJLF66UHQ59WA1PL2
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE, HANDOUT STILLS WERE BLURRED AT SOURCE
    North Korea sent two South Korean nationals back home on Wednesday (June 17), who had been held for what it said was illegal entry, the South Korean Unification Ministry said.
    Still photographs provided by the Unification Ministry showed the couple walking toward South Korean side from the North at the truce village of Panmunjom.
    "Our government took over two South Koreans (from North Korean authorities) around 10:15 a.m. (0115GMT) at Panmunjom who had entered North Korea. The government is planning to check their health conditions and investigate into reasons why they entered the North," said South Korean Unification Ministry Deputy spokesperson, Park Soo-jin, at a regular news briefing.
    On Monday (June 17), the Unification Ministry said North Korea had agreed to repatriate them. The North said in a notice signed by its Red Cross chief that the two South Koreans, who had entered the North on May 11, would be handed over at the Panmunjom truce village on the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) border, the ministry said.
    The ministry said the pair, a 59-year-old male and a 51-year-old female, had gone missing near the border between North Korea and China where they were traveling. It gave no further details.
    Four other South Korean citizens are known to be held by the North, including two men who confessed to having spied for the South, and a 21-year-old New York University student who is a U.S. green card holder.
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