North Korean restaurant workers ‘spurred by watching TV’ to defect

Thirteen North Koreans working at the same restaurant have defected to South Korea - after TV dramas alerted them to Pyongyang propaganda. The 12 women and a man, who had been working in another country, were welcomed by officials in Seoul. They decided to defect after watching TV programmes and surfing the web, said South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman Jeong Joon Hee. They were also weary of the constant struggle to send funds home to North Korea, which is burdened by ever-hardening economic sanctions.

As the international community has slapped sanctions on the North, North Korean restaurants in foreign countries are known to be feeling the pinch

South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman Jeong Joon Hee

North Korea, in countries such as China and Cambodia, generate millions of dollars every year for the secretive state. Staff working in them often perform musical routines in addition to serving food and are usually chosen because of their supposed loyalty to the regime. Although there have been defections before, it is unprecedented for so many to leave at the same time. It was not revealed where the 13 had been working to avoid legal and other complications.

There was a shared wish to go to South Korea and nobody was resistant to that,

Jeong Joon Hee

north korea