http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/opb/n ... ID=1023071

COEUR D'ALENE, ID 2007-01-09 U.S. border agents this week stopped a Canadian man from transporting South Koreans illegally into Eastern Washington.

The incident is a reminder that the rate of human smuggling across the northern border may be down. But it's not out.

Correspondent Elizabeth Wynne Johnson has more.

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It was 8:30 on a Sunday morning. U.S. border agents stopped a Toyota minivan near Loomis, Washington.

Inside they found three men and five women, all South Korean nationals. South Koreans wanting to enter the U.S. illegally often come from the north.

Border Patrol supervisor Lonnie Moore explains that's because it's relatively easy for the Koreans to get to Canada with just a passport.

Lonnie Moore: "Of course they don't tell the Canadian officials that they're going in to Canada just to use it as a springboard to enter the United States illegally. But a lot of times they do."

Their Canadian driver is charged with transporting illegal aliens. The eight South Koreans face removal proceedings.

A crackdown three years ago along the border in Western Washington pushed would-be smugglers of all kinds further East. But officials say human smuggling has been on a steady decline ever since.