North Korea claimed that their female “abductees” in South Korea are going on hunger strikes and are demanding an immediate return to North Korea.

Unless South Korea returns the 12 female North Korean restaurant workers, North Korea warned that a “ruthless response” will follow.

“If the puppet state (South Korea) keeps on ignoring our warning and acts in defiance, we will begin our ruthless response against the warmongers of the Blue House and South Korean intelligence for fabricating this (mass-defection) case,” Pyongyang said on Thursday.

Since the mass-defectionincident of North Korean restaurant workers to South Korea in the first