The bizarre saga of two alleged North Korean mass murderers and their cloak-and-dagger deportation is starting to develop into a major scandal.

The government secretly repatriated the two men on Nov. 7 after they were found adrift in South Korean waters on a squid fishing boat and told investigators that they had slaughtered the captain and 15 other crewmembers.

The grisly saga only became public after a text message to a Cheong Wa Dae official was accidentally caught on camera while he was checking it. Some speculate that the presidential office was behind their hasty deportation amid soured ties with the North.

A government insider said Monday, "given the unprecedented nature of the case, the Unification Ministry and the National Intelligence Service have been afraid to make a clear statement about it."

The two North Koreans were taken to the border truce village of Panmunjom handcuffed and blindfolded. One of them reportedly collapsed when he saw North Korean soldiers, realizing that he was being sent back to the North despite his wish to defect.

"If they hid their intention and falsely stated that they wanted to defect to South Korea, as the government here claims, how come they were in the dark until the moment they were handed over to North Korea?" said an activist who helps North Korean defectors.

