North Korea releases videos urging South to return defectors

SEOUL, April 18 (UPI) -- North Korea is mounting a media campaign against Seoul after 13 North Korean restaurant workers fled to the South.

North Korea's propaganda outlet Uriminzokkiri released two videos online featuring North Koreans condemning South Korea's "kidnapping" of the restaurant workers who had left China on valid passports.

In the video, the North Koreans are seen demanding the immediate repatriation of the defectors.

The defections are being labeled as an operation of the "treasonous clique of [South Korean President] Park Geun-hye," and the two videos feature various North Koreans: restaurant workers, a student and a party cadre.

One interviewee condemned the South Korean puppets for "kidnapping our people 10 at a time," adding "the [South Korean] presidential Blue House, the devil's lair, should be destroyed and our people delivered as soon as possible."

On April 7, North Koreans – a man and 12 women – had arrived in the South after they sought asylum at Seoul's embassy in Bangkok.

North Korea has slammed Seoul, claiming South Korea "dragged" the North Koreans to a "Southeast Asian country."

One North Korean in one of the videos said South Korea's National Intelligence Service was targeting the workers who were performing "volunteer work" abroad on behalf of their country.

"True humanitarianism would be to sweep away these [South Korean] beasts in the hope of unification," said the interviewee.

Another North Korean said there is "no way" North Koreans would voluntarily go to South Korea "where the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer," warning the defectors must be repatriated before something happens in Seoul, the South Korean capital.

The videos were uploaded on Sunday and Monday. Several interviewees condemned the South Korean president, Newsis reported.