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North Korean restaurant defectors released in South Korea North Korean restaurant defectors released in South Korea
(about 2 hours later)
A group of 13 North Koreans who defected from China to South Korea earlier this year have been released from custody, officials say. Authorities in Seoul have released a group of 13 North Korean restaurant workers who defected from China to South Korea earlier this year.
Seoul's Unification Ministry said 12 women and one man had begun the process of resettlement in South Korea. Officials said 12 women and one man had now begun the formal process of resettlement in South Korea.
They defected in April from a Pyongyang-run restaurant, with Seoul calling the size of the group "unprecedented". The group defected in April from a North Korean state-run restaurant in the Chinese city of Ningbo.
But the spy agency kept them in custody as the case was high profile. At the time Seoul said the size of the defection was "unprecedented" and held them for further investigation.
North Korean defectors are usually sent to a state resettlement facility for three months after being questioned by the National Intelligence Service (NIS). Most North Korean defectors are first held at an interrogation facility to screen for potential spies and then put through a state resettlement programme for three months, the AFP news agency reports.
But at the time, the NIS said North Korea was using the case for propaganda, claiming the female workers had been abducted by Seoul's spy agency. But in this case the National Intelligence Service (NIS) said it held the workers in "protective custody" because the case was very high profile. It added that the North was using the case for propaganda by claiming the female workers had been abducted by Seoul's spy agency.
Separately, a diplomat at the North Korean embassy in London was reported on Tuesday to have defected and fled abroad with his family. The 13 defectors left a halfway house last Thursday, local media reports said. Seoul's Unification Ministry merely confirmed they had been released but did not give more details.
Thae Yong Ho, had served as deputy to the ambassador and was responsible for promoting the image of his country to British audiences. Read more:
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'Valid documents' The release comes just one day after a diplomat at the North Korean embassy in London was reported to have defected and fled abroad with his family.
The group of restaurant workers were said to have been found "exiting the Chinese border with valid passports" on 6 April. They all had valid identity documents and had entered and exited legally. Thae Yong Ho had served as deputy to the ambassador and was responsible for promoting the image of his country to British audiences.
The restaurant was reportedly located in Ningbo, in China's north-eastern province of Zhejiang, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency, which cited unnamed sources. The group of restaurant workers all left China by legal means on 6 April, a Chinese spokesman confirmed after the defection. Unlike many defectors, they all had valid travel documents.
North Korea runs some 130 restaurants in other countries. The restaurant was reportedly in Ningbo, in China's north-eastern province of Zhejiang. North Korea runs some 130 restaurants in other countries which provide a much-needed source of income.
The restaurants provide a much-needed source of income for North Korea but South Korea says economic reasons and tightened international sanctions against the North mean many businesses are struggling. Their staff are thought to be hand picked from families loyal to the North Korean state.
Read more: The mystery of North Korea's virtuoso waitresses