SEOUL (AFP) ? North Korea on Thursday demanded the return of nine of its citizens who defected by boat and warned that cross-border relations would suffer otherwise, Seoul officials said.
The three men, two women and four children crossed the tense Yellow Sea border last Saturday in two small boats.
Media reports say they want to defect, and the South says they are free to choose whether to stay or to return home.
The North's Red Cross sent a message to its South Korean counterpart to demand the return of the nine immediately, Seoul's unification ministry, which handles cross-border affairs, said in a statement.
Failure to do so could further damage relations, the message added.
The arrival in February of a boatload of North Koreans sparked weeks of acrimony. That boat drifted across the Yellow Sea border in thick fog, possibly accidentally.
Seoul returned 27 of the 31 people on board but refused to hand over the other four, saying they had freely chosen to stay in the South.
Pyongyang complained bitterly that the four had been pressured to stay and publicised appeals from their relatives for them to come home.
The latest incident comes at a time of high cross-border tensions, after the North announced it was breaking all contacts with the South's government.
The North's military has threatened an attack in protest at a move by some South Korean troops to use photos of Pyongyang?s ruling family as rifle-range targets. The practice has been stopped but the North is demanding an apology.
However, one analyst said he did not believe the latest defection would seriously aggravate the situation.
"The North cannot help but demand their return, as usual, but it will have to swallow (the situation) as the nine came to the South of their free will," said Kim Yong-Hyun, of Seoul's Dongguk University.
"I don't think this will affect inter-Korean relations seriously."
Media reports said the group -- two brothers and members of their respective families -- expressed a desire to defect from their impoverished homeland, which is beset by persistent severe food shortages.
"What's most important is their own free will, whether they want to return home or stay here," foreign ministry spokesman Cho Byung-Jae said earlier Thursday.
"Our principle in dealing with this matter... is respecting their free will either way."
Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported that the group left Haeju in Hwanghae province on Friday night. It said they had planned their escape for some time to escape the harsh economic climate in the North.
Some 21,000 people from the isolated communist state have come to the capitalist South since the end of the 1950-1953 war, the vast majority in recent years.
The latest group is being questioned by police, military and intelligence officials about their route and motives, a normal procedure intended to weed out North Korean agents.
If it is confirmed they want to stay, they will spend a mandatory three months in an assimilation and training centre and will be given financial and housing support upon leaving.
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