13 North Korean defectors healthy and want “to be forgotten”

An attorney at the South Korean intelligence office said all of the North Koreans who defected after working at a restaurant in China are all healthy, dismissing North Korean government’s argument that they were abducted and protesting with hunger strikes.

Park Young-sik, who serves at the North Korean refugees protection center under the National Intelligence Service (NIS) as a human rights defender, discussed the individual interviews she carried out with the 12 female defectors over the weekend.

“I can say clearly that all of the 13 defectors are all healthy, don’t have any problem,” said Park. Park emphasized that the defectors hope “to be forgotten” by the public.

“What’s going to happen for a defector’s family if the defector’s motivation and process of defection is revealed?” Park told the Chosun Ilbo on the same day.

[NK News]

This entry was posted in Humanitarian Aid and Relief, North Korean refugee by Grant Montgomery.