North Korea says South Korea “kidnapped” defectors

This came from an intercessory prayer update email.

Two South Korean chartered flights carried more than 450 North Korean refugees, who had been holed up in a Southeast Asian nation after escaping their impoverished homeland, to South Korea on Tuesday and Wednesday, July 27, 28.It was the biggest ever mass single defection case reported since the 1950-53 Korean War.The South Korean government has declined to identify the nation from which the refugees where airlifted but activists involved in the defection said they came from Vietnam.

Up to 300,000 North Koreans are said to be in hiding in China according to some estimates and hundreds are believed to be gathering in various Southeast Asian nations. Most are awaiting a chance to reach South Korea.About 5,000 North Koreans have defected to the South since the Korean War ended in 1953. Most have done so in the past three years. More than 1,000 have reached South Korea so far this year.