Seoul repatriates two of five rescued N. Korean sailors 동해 구조 北 선원 2명 판문점 통해 송

Seoul has returned two of the five North Korean fishermen rescued in South Korean waters earlier this month. The two Koreas are playing a game of human tug of war，... with the North... even bringing out the families of those who decided to defect to the site of handover. Connie Kim has the details. Seoul′s unification ministry said Tuesday the North accepted the two fishermen earlier in the day through the inter－Korean truce village of Panmunjeom. It is not known whether Pyongyang lodged a complaint during the repatriation process， but a unification ministry official said things appeared to have gone smoothly during the handover. Pyongyang had been threatening to take stern action if the South didn′t return all five men. A day earlier， Pyongyang had told Seoul it would send to the truce village... the relatives of the three fishermen who expressed a desire to defect to South Korea... and a group of officials to take all five fishermen into custody. Seoul said it would honor the wishes of the three fishermen to stay in the South when the South Korean Coast Guard rescued the five men in waters near Ulleung－do island earlier this month. South Korea has never repatriated a North Korean who has expressed a desire to defect. Connie Kim， Arirang News.