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DPRK returns two S.Koreans back home via Panmunjom

Xinhua, June 17, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Wednesday returned two South Koreans back through the truce village of Panmunjom, Seoul's unification ministry said.

Unification Ministry vice spokesperson Park Soo-jin told a regular press briefing that the DPRK returned the two people at about 10:15 a.m. (0115 GMT) through Panmunjom.

Park said that the government would investigate into how they had entered the DPRK after checking their health conditions, declining to comment on other details.

The two people were known as a couple, surnamed Lee and Jin aged 59 and 51 each. Their missing was reported when they traveled near the areas in China bordering the DPRK.

Head of the DPRK's Red Cross committee sent a notice to his South Korean counterpart Monday, saying that the two South Koreans, who had illegally entered the DPRK on May 11, would be returned on June 17.

The early repatriation was viewed by some as unusual, indicating the DPRK holding out an olive branch to South Korea.

The DPRK issued a government statement Monday, saying that there is "no reason" not to hold negotiations and dialogue with the South side if atmosphere is formed. Pyongyang repeated its call for the suspension of joint war games between Seoul and Washington and the lifting of sanctions imposed by Seoul on Pyongyang.

S. Korea's Unification Ministry said in response that the DPRK should return to the dialogue table without any preconditions. Endi