Defectors' co-workers in the North speak out
/Korea Times File
By Lee Han-soo
Seven North Korean waitresses, who worked with the 13 women who defected to South Korea on April 11, have finally spoken to CNN.
The waitresses all worked at the same restaurant in Ningbo City, in southern China. Because the restaurant is closed the seven have returned to North Korea.
The waitresses claim the restaurant manager tricked the others into defecting.
"In mid-March our restaurant manager gathered us together and told us the restaurant would be moved to somewhere in Southeast Asia," head waitress Choe Hye-yong told CNN.
Choe said that when she realized the manager’s real intention she only managed to alert a few of her colleagues.
The waitress claimed that a South Korean businessman was involved in the mass defection under orders from the South Korean government.
"I think about our colleagues being deceived and dragged to South Korea and facing extreme hardship there," another waitress said. "It tears our hearts."
The South Korean Unification Ministry denied the claims and reiterated that the defection was not coerced.
“Thirteen defectors voluntarily decided to leave and pushed ahead with the escape without any help from the outside,” a spokesperson said.
“Following their voluntary request to defect, our government accepted them from a humanitarian point of view."
North Korea has since threatened South Korea with destructive consequences if it does not return the waitresses.