The South Korean Ministry of Unification (MoU) on Wednesday denied North Korea’s claim that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) abducted the 13 restaurant workers whose defections were announced last week.

Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency on Tuesday criticized the “anti-humanitarian crime” of kidnapping North Korean citizens and defined it as a provocation against the DPRK.

“It is not even worth commenting on North Korea’s unreasonable argument. The group defection happened according to (the defectors’) free will,” the press release from the MoU reads.

Following subsequent media reports pointing out the exceptionally quick defection process, experts generally admitted government organizations’ engagement,