Without giving details, government says defection is related to personal circumstances, not politics or diplomacy The South Korean government confirmed reports on May 24 that staff at a North Korean restaurant in China hoped to leave for South Korea in the wake of another group defection last month.
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Two of the women who arrived in Thailand earlier are waiting at a detention facility where defectors stay in custody until their South Korea asylum applications are approved.
Based on the actual amount received, the income of a North Korean laborer in China stands at just one fifth of their Chinese counterparts, the RFA said, adding that even the food expenses alloted for North Koreans are exploited by North Korean managers in Chinese firms.
They also demanded that South Korea hand over the “thrice-cursed gangsters involved in the allurement and abduction” so they can take “thousand-fold revenge upon them”.
“The workers said that they learned about the reality in South Korea through South Korean TV, soap operas, movies and (the) internet”, said South Korean unification ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-hee then, per CNN. After that request was refused, family members in North Korea sent documents granting MINBYUN power of attorney, the group said.
Cho said the April defections were an unusual occurrence, noted VoA.
“With regards to the defection this time, I would like to tell you that our government is dealing with (the defection) according to our custom of handling North Korean defectors”.
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A group of North Koreans working at a state-owned restaurant overseas have fled to a third country, less than two months after 13 North Koreans defected from a restaurant in China.
