hankyoreh

Ryukyung Restaurant in Ningbo

The North Korean government has determined the identities of all 13 people who recently detected from a North Korean restaurant in China, reports say. The defectors included 12 female employees and the 36-year-old manager of the restaurant (only identified by the letter H). The restaurant, called Ryukyung, is located in the city of Ningbo in China’s Zhejiang Province.

The other seven of the 20 total North Koreans who had been working at the restaurant are currently with North Korean officials in China, the Hankyoreh confirmed.

Effectively, the South Korean government’s official announcement about the group defection - which was both irregular and rushed - enabled the North Korean government to more quickly ascertain the identity of the North Korean employees than they would have otherwise.

By Apr. 12, the North Korean government had confirmed the identities of all 13 of the North Koreans working at the restaurant that the South Korean government announced on Apr. 8 had been part of a group defection, Hankyoreh reporters learned.

“The North Korean government has acquired copies of all 13 of their passports,” said a local source who is familiar with the case.

The majority of the 12 women defectors were in their twenties, with nine between the ages of 22 and 25. One of the women was a minor, just 17 years old.

While 13 of the 20 total North Korean employees at Ryukyung defected, the other seven were confirmed to be with the North Korean authorities. It is likely that they have already returned to North Korea, though they could still be with North Korean officials in Ningbo, China.

“The seven employees already returned to North Korea on Apr. 9 or Apr. 10,” the source said.

However, the Chinese manager of the restaurant, only identified by the letter O, said that the other employees are with North Korean officials in Ningbo and will probably return to North Korea in a couple of days.

Consequently, the North Korean authorities have withdrawn the missing person reports that they filed with the Chinese police immediately after the 13 left the country and are now referring to them as having been “lured or kidnapped by South Korean intelligence agencies.”

This is also why North Korea released a statement on Apr. 12 in the name of the spokesperson of the central committee of the North Korean Red Cross in which it claimed that “South Korea has become so brazen that it is luring and kidnapping North Korean employees, deceiving groups of ten at a time and convincing them to ‘defect.’”

When a North Korean defects, the standard practice for the North Korean security forces is to file a missing person report and to treat their location as being unknown until it is confirmed that they have entered South Korea.

But when the South Korean government officially announces that there was a group defection as it did this time, the defectors’ family members in North Korea can suffer disadvantages and can even be driven from their homes, according to several defectors and sources who are familiar with the issue.

The parents and other family members of the female employees in their 20s who defected are reportedly living in North Korea.

Seoul’s announcement about the group defection is likely to further widen the gap between North and South Korean sentiments, experts say.

“If the South Korean authorities do not apologize for their abominable abduction of these employees and send them back, they should bear in mind the unimaginable harsh consequences and the special punitive measures that will ensue,” Pyongyang said in the statement by the Red Cross spokesperson.

Seoul responded to this by releasing a statement by the spokesperson for the Unification Ministry that said, “Considering that the group defection occurred through the free will [of the individuals concerned], it is not even worth addressing North Korea’s far-fetched claims. We sternly warn North Korea not to make threats about provocations.”

By Kim Jin-cheol, staff reporter and Kim Oi-hyun, Beijing correspondent

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]