December 01, 2023
Expert Surveys

South Korea’s restaurant worker defector controversy: what should happen next?

Experts weigh in on the increasingly contentious case of the Ningpo 12

Since their arrival in early 2016, the purported mass defection of 13 North Korean restaurant workers to South Korea has caused controversy among those watching inter-Korean relations.

Abnormalities surrounding the way the former Park Geun-hye government first handled the case created the impression of political interference from the outset.