North Korean illegals nabbed

By Theerawat Khamthita

Police have arrested 10 North Koreans who illegally slipped across the border from Laos into Chiang Saen district yesterday.

Police arrested the illegal immigrants as they were walking along a busy road soon after stepping off of a speed boat from Laos.

Pol Lt-Col Somkiat Jewtan, of the Chiang Rai police, said 10 people, including a 15-year-old girl, were found walking with their backpacks along the Chiang Saen-Sob Ruak road near the Mekong river. None of the group, who police said all looked very tired, were carrying any travel documents.

Scores of North Koreans have tried to enter Thailand in recent years, often after travelling through China and Laos.

Most of them are fleeing reclusive North Korea and come to Thailand and other nations in an effort to seek asylum in a third country. The issue is often a diplomatic headache for the authorities concerned.

The suspects, who were charged with illegal entry, apparently told police they caught a freight barge from China, disembarked at the Lao port town of Mom, and travelled on to Chiang Saen by long-tail boat.

They said that after landing in Chiang Saen, they made themselves conspicuous by walking along a busy road so the authorities would be alerted to their presence and would come and arrest them.

North Koreans continue to try to illegally enter Thailand after a number of previous asylum seekers were successfully resettled in South Korea.

A security source said police were keeping an eye on brokers who are paid for assisting North Koreans to enter Thailand. Some of them allegedly run restaurants as fronts for their illegal businesses.

Bangkok Post

Last Updated : Sunday April 08, 2007