North Korean Restaurant Workers Defect to Southeast Asia

Three North Korean workers at a state-run restaurant overseas have defected, South Korea has confirmed.

According to South Korea’s Unification Ministry, the North Koreans had “broken away”, but refused to comment further. It said they would now come to South Korea.

The defectors had been in China but were currently in a third country in South East Asia, says Yonhap News Agency, citing an unidentified source.

This would be the second restaurant defection this year.

Last month, a group of 13 North Koreans workers defected to South Korea from a restaurant in Ningbo, China.

Pyongyang has accused Seoul of abducting them, but South Korea strongly denies this.

North Korea runs some 130 restaurants in other countries, a vital source of income.

Workers at the North Korean restaurants are usually chosen for their loyalty to the communist country’s leadership.