South Korea’s intelligence service has released a dozen North Korean restaurant workers whose defection in April triggered accusations from Pyongyang that they were kidnapped, a government official said Tuesday.
All 12 were waitresses at a North Korea-themed restaurant in China who arrived in the South with their manager, making headlines as the largest group defection in years.
While Seoul said they fled voluntarily, Pyongyang claimed they were kidnapped by South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) and waged a vocal campaign through its state media for their immediate return.
Most new arrivals from the North are held for about three months at an NIS interrogation facility for screening for potential spies.
They are then sent to a resettlement centre for three months’ training, after which they are free to start their new lives in South Korean society.
The NIS announced in June that the 12 women would remain in its protective custody, rather than being sent to the centre.