bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

A group of North Koreans working at a state-run restaurant in China recently escaped their workplace to defect to the South, South Korean media reported on Monday.
If confirmed, it would be the second such group defection since last month, when 13 North Korean employees at a Pyongyang-operated restaurant in China arrived in Seoul seeking asylum.
The Yonhap news agency, citing multiple unidentified sources, said around three North Korean restaurant workers were currently waiting in a Southeast Asian country to defect to the South.
Seoul’s Unification Ministry and the National Intelligence Service did not confirm the report but said they were looking into the issue.
The report said the escape took place after May 9, when Pyongyang wrapped up its rare ruling party congress, the first in 36 years.
North Korean overseas restaurant staff defect to South
Tough United Nations sanctions imposed on North Korea after its January nuclear test significantly curtailed the isolated state’s ability to earn hard currency, making the restaurants an even more important source of income than before.
There have been reports of staff not being paid, with restaurants pressured into increasing their regular remittances to Pyongyang.
The South Korean government estimates that Pyongyang rakes in around US$10 million every year from about 130 restaurants it operates – with mostly North Korean staff – in 12 countries, including neighbouring China.
Since the group defection in April, North Korea has claimed that the restaurant workers were tricked into defecting by South Korean spies, repeatedly running emotional interviews with their parents on state media.
Pyongyang also called on Seoul to repatriate its citizens and demanded a face-to-face meeting with the defectors and their family members, which the South flatly rejected.
North Korea is known to be strict about vetting and selecting people to work in its overseas restaurants, knowing they will inevitably be exposed to information about the outside world that they are mostly protected from in the North.


North Korea’s Kim reveals soldiers cleared mines for Russia, in rare public statement

North Korea beckons Chinese tourists with beach resort in 2026 calendar

Why South Korea is powerless to revive Trump-Kim nuclear talks

Shaman rumours resurface as South Korea returns to Blue House

North Korea

More North Korean restaurant staff waiting to defect to South

A colleague of 12 North Korean waitresses who defected to South Korea in April speaks at a news conference in Pyongyang on May 3, 2016. North Korea says the waitresses were abducted by South Korea from a restaurant in China while Seoul says they willingly defected to South Korea. Photo: Kyodo

News

Asia

East Asia