SEOUL - South Korea said its navy intercepted a vessel carrying 14 North Korean asylum seekers yesterday - one of the largest groups ever to flee the hunger stricken communist nation.
A UN aid official reported that famine was ticking like a time bomb in the country and could explode at any time. The South Korean defence ministry said the boat was spotted off the west coast of the Korean peninsula near a military demarcation line that has split the two Koreas since their 1950-1953 war.
Meanwhile, the South Korean Red Cross yesterday said it would begin delivering 15,000 tonnes of corn to North Korea next week.