N. KOREAN WORKERS DEFECT FROM RUSSIA

[Anchor Lead]

It has been found that 9 North Korean workers working in Russia defected to South Korea last month. North Korean workers dispatched in Russia are reportedly living in fear that they'll be sent to war sites in Ukraine for reconstruction work.

[Pkg]

Last month, nine North Korean workers arrived in South Korea from Russia and were reportedly accepted to Hanawon, a facility that aids North Korean defectors in settling down in the South. They were workers dispatched to construction sites in the Far East to earn foreign currency. All nine are men in their 20s to 50s. Two of those in their 20s are said to be military servicemen. They are presumed to be from the North Korean army's construction brigade.

[Soundbite] Prof. Kang Dong-wan(Dong-a Univ.) : "Some of them go to work in Russia to earn foreign currency, while others are dispatched to complete their compulsory military service."

The men received a refugee status from the High Commissioner for Refugees office in Russia and stayed in Moscow before traveling to South Korea. Insider information on North Korea reveals that North Korean workers were still dispatched to Russia in large amounts even after the U.N. sanctions banning the North from dispatching its workers overseas were implemented in 2017. Sources say many North Korean workers continued to work in Russia because the border between the two countries was closed down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to these sources, the workers are worried they might be dispatched to reconstruction sites in Donbass, Ukraine, where a war is still raging on.

[Soundbite] Prof. Kang Dong-wan(Dong-a Univ.) : "Military servicemen are severely worried that they might be dispatched to battlefields in Ukraine. They would have no choice but to go there if dispatched by N. Korean authorities."

South Korea's unification ministry has told KBS it could not confirm the defection for safety and diplomatic reasons.