<관련 영문 기사>

N. Korea trying to lure back defectors with reward: report

North Korea is attempting to persuade its defectors to come back to its dictatorial regime by offering them fame and fortune, British media reported Sunday.

Journalist Park Ju-min of Reuters, quoting a North Korean defectors’ community, reported that Pyongyang’s 30-year-old leader Kim Jong-un has sent his agents to families of North Koreans living in the prosperous South, urging them to talk their loved ones into returning.

Some defectors said that people posing as defectors had promised them cash reward of 50 million won ($44,600) and a chance to appear on TV.

It is yet unclear why Kim is putting down the stick and offering the carrot, but some defectors said it may be result of both pressure from the international community on Pyongyang’s human rights condition and rising influence of the “exile community in the South,” according to Park.

It is impossible to determine how many defectors have returned to their repressive home country or whether they received the reward as promised, but one diplomat in Pyongyang told Reuters that a group of nine defectors who were sent back from Laos in May “actually have been quite well treated.”

The diplomat added that these people are put on TV for propaganda purposes.

Last year, North Korean defector Park Jeong-suk returned to Pyongyang and held a press conference to bash South Korean society. She reportedly said that defectors can only get poorly paid jobs, and they all dearly wish the go back to their home country.

In September of that year, a married couple made their way back into North Korea. They said that “there is no end” to describing the miserable lives they led in South Korea.

While some suspect the former defectors have been forced to say such things by the North’s regime, others point out that escapees in fact often have difficulty adjusting to life in South Korea.

A 20-something man was caught last month by police while attempting to return to North Korea with a list of fellow defectors. Authorities suspected that the man, who had been living in poverty here, tried to show loyalty to Pyongyang by bringing the list.

“The money we pay to the brokers (who help us escape North Korea) is at least 10 million won. But the South Korean government gives us only 7 million won in settlement funds, and it is very difficult to find a job,” a 44-year-old North Korean defector surnamed Kang told the Hankyoreh newspaper.

She said the defectors unable to pay back their debt are threatened by brokers and coerced into taking part in illegal activities.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)