South Korean Ministry of Unification (MOU) has said that since 2013 five North Korean re-defectors have returned to South Korea, Deputy National Assembly Speaker Park Joo-sun announced on Tuesday.

The unification ministry submitted the data for a parliamentary audit upon the request of Park, who is also a member of National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee.

The defectors went back to the DPRK via China before re-entering the Republic of Korea between 2013 to 2017 – a move which violates South Korea’s National Security Act.

Two arrived in the South in 2013 after previously returning to the North due