North Korea Blocks Citizens’ Return Over Four Staying in South

North Korea refused to open gates with the South to allow the return of 27 of its citizens who had drifted across the western sea border by boat last month, demanding four who had requested to stay also be repatriated.

North Korean officials said they wanted all 31 people to be transferred and didn’t open the border, Lee Jong Joo, a spokeswoman at the Unification Ministry in Seoul, said by phone. The North Koreans were returning to a hostel, she said. The South Korean government will next week continue discussing the matter with the North, Lee said, without elaborating.