SEOUL, Korea, Republic Of — North Korea on Saturday reiterated its demands for South Korea to send back 12 North Korean restaurant workers who came to the South in 2016, saying such a move would demonstrate Seoul’s willingness to improve relations. The North’s Red Cross accused South Korean officials of evading responsibility and betraying the spirit of last month’s inter-Korean summit. North Korea had been accusing South Korea of abducting the women, who were working in China. When the restaurant workers arrived in 2016, South Korea’s then-conservative government said they represented the largest group defection by North Koreans to the South since Kim took power in 2011. Later in 2016, South Korea rejected a highly unusual overture by the North to temporarily send the restaurant workers’ relatives to the South to meet with them.

Source: National Post May 19, 2018 11:24 UTC