hankyoreh

Days before the high-level inter-Korean talks scheduled for June 1 at Panmunjeom, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the official broadcaster of North Korea, called for the repatriation of a group of defectors who were working at Ryukyung restaurant in Ningbo, a city in China’s Zhejiang Province, in 2016, when they were allegedly defected to South Korea against their will. The group defection is allegedly part of a ploy by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) to influence the upcoming general election during the Park Geun-hye administration. The KCNA referred to the defection as an “anti-humanitarian” issue that “must be resolved immediately.” In the photo, seven of the 13 defectors are seen during an interview broadcasted on CNN in April 2016.