A group of 13 people of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) working in a overseas restaurant defected to South Korea this week, Seoul's unification ministry said Friday.
Unification Ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-hee told an emergency press briefing that one male manager and 12 female employees, dispatched from the DPRK to work in a state-run overseas restaurant, arrived in Seoul on Thursday.
It marked the first time that a group of DPRK people working at the same overseas restaurant defected to South Korea.
South Korea has also recommended its people not to visit the DPRK-run restaurants when going on a trip to overseas.
UN Security Council adopted tougher-than-ever sanctions on the DPRK last month over Pyongyang's nuclear test in January and its launch of a long-range rocket, which was condemned as a disguised test of ballistic missile technology, in February.
