THREATS FROM NORTH KOREA: More on the defection of NoKors to SoKor

Further details on last week's group of thirteen North Koreans, including a male manager and 12 female employees, entered South Korea, are emerging as the group reportedly have links to North Korea's Ryugyong Hotel and are the son and daughters of leading officials within the North's Workers' Party of Korea and other administrative bodies.

Citing sources in Pyongyang, the online newspaper Daily NHK reported that the North Koreans had been working abroad for years to fund the hotel's construction and the Workers' Party. The group is reported to have flown to South Korea from a certain Southeast Asian country after leaving China on the 6th of April.

In the first three months of 2016, about 342 North Koreans defected to South Korea, a 17% jump from the same period last year, suggesting a recent rise in instability within North Korea's Kim Jong Un regime.

Source: Arirang News