Seoul  - Nineteen North Korean defectors, who were arrested on December 2 in Myanmar, are going to be tried this week for illegal entry, local newspaper reported Monday.

The North Korean group, which includes four children, was arrested in Tachilek, a town on the Myanmar-Thai border about 550 kilometres north-east of Yangon after they were forced to shift their boat route from Thailand to Myanmar, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported.

After their departure from China's southern province of Yunnan, they set out towards Thailand, travelling south along the Myanmar-Thai border, the paper said.

"But the river storm forced them to change the route towards the slow-flowing Myanmar side of the border," one Korean resident in Myanmar close to their entry was quoted as saying.

The trial is forecast to take place on December 22 at the earliest at the local district court of the local Kyaingtong city.

The North Koreans face either deportation back to China or Thailand or between six months and two years in prison.

Most North Korean defectors usually enter a third country like Thailand as a passage towards their final destination South Korea or the United States. (dpa)