3 N.Koreans Fled from Restaurant in Weinan

Three North Koreans who recently defected from China worked in a joint-venture shabu-shabu restaurant in Weinan, Shaanxi Province, defectors' magazine News Focus International said Wednesday.

The three had earlier worked in a North Korean restaurant in Shenyang, Liaoning Province but moved to Weinan a few months ago with other North Korean workers because business was bad, according to Kim Yong-hwa of NK Refugees Human Rights Association of Korea.

All three are women in their 20s. They are in a Southeast Asian country waiting to fly to South Korea.

They reportedly decided to defect when they heard about the defection of 13 North Korean restaurant workers from Ningbo early last month.

They secretly told a Chinese acquaintance, who in turn contacted a defectors organization in South Korea.

"They left the restaurant empty-handed on the pretext of an errand on May 13. They got in a car at an appointed place and traveled overland to the Southeast Asian country," a source said.

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