A government source says two North Koreans have expressed their wishes to defect to South Korea after swimming across the border to Incheon’s Gyodong Island.
 
The source said Marine Corps guards spotted the two North Koreans around 4 a.m. Thursday as they swam to the island located about 2.5 kilometers from the North’s closest coast.
 
The North Koreans, both males with one in his 20s and the other in his 50s, were taken in for questioning by the South’s state intelligence authorities.
 
If the two men are confirmed to be North Korean citizens and their wishes to defect are sincere, they will enter Hanawon, a special government center for North Korean escapees. The men will then receive resettlement training needed for their new life in South Korea.
 
Earlier on July 3, a North Korean man requested to defect to the South after crossing the border aboard a wooden boat and reaching Baengnyeong Island in the Yellow Sea.