By It appears the East Sea Sea of Japan the Sea that Cannot Be Named is becoming a more popular route to defect from North Korea from:
A South Korean government source says eleven North Koreans have defected to the South aboard a ship in the East Sea.
The source said the North Koreans — five men and six women — arrived at Jumunjin port on the east coast at 6:30 pm aboard a motor boat and expressed their intention to defect.
The source said the Defense Ministry will make an announcement on their defection soon. [KBS Global]
One Free Korea has much more on this defection to include a picture of the boat the 11 North Koreans used to cross that huge distance from North Korea:
I am absolutely amazed they crossed hundreds of miles of cold ocean in that little row boat with 11 people in it which includes 2 children. That is what you call desperation.
1:37 pm on October 3rd, 2009 1
I can't imagine "11" people in such a small boat. (can't even believe the SK government called it a "ship"). Why would they risk almost certain death in a "rowboat" to gain freedom, unless they were extremely desparate. It is only luck that they made it to thier destination. I certainly hope they find in life what they are looking for.
2:08 pm on October 3rd, 2009 2
They must have been starving before they even got into the boat. It looks like it was made for 5 or 6 people. Row boats have a typical max load of 100kg per person. Since they were at sea, they probably weighed a lot less than the max load because they would have taken too much water otherwise.
8:22 pm on October 3rd, 2009 3
No different than the multitude of Cubans who attempt the water trek to the US each year. Just seems the NKs haven't put as much thought into it.
8:25 am on November 5th, 2009 4
They don't get much to eat in Nkorea, so I think they fit in.
You can see pictures of people of people crossing the mediteranean sea. Frightening, when you think most can't even swim.