More North Korean defectors head south

The second wave in the biggest mass defection of North Koreans to South Korea arrived today on a flight from an unidentified Southeast Asian country, bringing the total in the two-day airlift to nearly 460.

The group of 227 North Koreans arrived at Incheon International Airport, Seoul, on a chartered Korean Air plane arranged by the South Korean government, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said.

South Korean government officials have been reluctant to confirm the arrival of the North Koreans and have declined to reveal which country they are coming from, but news reports said that 230 arrived yesterday.

A trickle of defectors to the South has grown into a steady stream in recent years as more North Koreans flee hunger and repression in their communist country, mostly fleeing across its long border with China before heading to other countries.

Human rights groups have said that hundreds of North Koreans were living in Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and other Southeast Asian countries, and were eager to travel to South Korea.

The government has barred reporters from covering the arrival of the defectors. But television footage yesterday showed the first group arriving and then being swiftly taken away in five buses.

The government typically puts defectors through a month of questioning before giving them a two-month orientation course on how to make their way in their new capitalist home.