3 N.K. female overseas restaurant workers have escaped, seek defection: source

This file photo taken on May 24, 2016, shows a North Korean-run restaurant in Shanghai, China. (Yonhap)

SEOUL (Yonhap) — Three North Korean female staff at a restaurant in China have recently fled their workplace and one of them is moving to Thailand where she will join her colleagues who arrived earlier, a source said Wednesday.

The source familiar with North Korean affairs said that the three women, in their late 20s, have escaped a North Korean-run restaurant in the Chinese city of Xian. It said all are awaiting passage to Seoul.

“The remaining worker is moving to Thailand after briefly becoming separated from her colleagues,” said the source, adding that they may come to South Korea early next month.

The flight, first reported on Monday, is the second of its kind after a group of 13 North Korean restaurant workers defected en masse to South Korea in April.

Last month’s defectors worked at a restaurant in the Chinese eastern port city of Ningbo before they arrived in South Korea, with the government insiders hinting tougher international sanctions and mounting pressure by Pyongyang to earn money forced them to escape.

The South Korean government confirmed Tuesday that an unspecified number of North Korean restaurant workers have recently fled their workplace, but it declined to reveal details, citing their safety and diplomatic impact.

Pyongyang has claimed that South Korea kidnapped the group of North Koreans who defected to Seoul last month, calling on Seoul to immediately send them back home. Seoul said that the North Koreans have defected on their own free will.

Overseas restaurants operated by North Korea have served as one of the main sources of hard currency for North Korea, with which the North is suspected of bankrolling its nuclear and missile programs.

Such restaurants are known to be facing financial difficulty after the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) slapped tougher sanctions on Pyongyang for its January nuclear test and long-range rocket launch in February.

South Korea estimates that North Korea is running approximately 130 restaurants in around 12 countries, including China, Vietnam and Cambodia, earning US$10 million annually.