CHIANG RAI, 9 June 2014 – Chiang Rai provincial marines have detained 15 North Korean nationals for illegal entry after they crossed the Mekong on a boat from the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.
The North Koreans were apprehended as they walked from the Mekong River to a town in Wiang Sub-district, Chiang Saen District, an official said, citing witnesses as saying the Laotian boat that transported them speeded back to the opposite river bank after dropping off the passengers.
Shortly after their arrest, the illegal immigrants were brought to Chiang Saen immigration for interrogations, to find the persons who lured them into the illegal transit.
Initial inquiries revealed that the immigrants traveled from the North Korean border town of Hamgyong-bukto to the neighboring China before taking a boat from Yunnan on the Mekong River to sail to Laos and Thailand, where they expected to be sent to a third country.
