N Korea uses video of defectors' families

North Korea’s state media released footage on Wednesday showing the family members of four defectors urging South Korea to repatriate their loved ones.

North Korea’s state media released footage on Wednesday showing the family members of four defectors urging South Korea to repatriate their loved ones.

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South Korea says four of 31 North Koreans whose fishing boat strayed into its waters last month asked to stay in the South. South Korea has offered to return the remaining 27, but North Korea wants all of them sent back, accusing Seoul of coercing the four to stay.

On Wednesday, North Korea posted videos containing interviews with the families of the four on its Uriminzokkiri website. The footage shows a woman identified as the mother of one of the defectors calling the South Korean side “inhumane” and “confrontational” and accusing it of trying to separate her from her daughter. “They are stomping on the mother’s desperate wish to get her daughter back,” Park Myong Ok said.

The wrangling over the defectors is the latest friction between the Koreas.