The U.K.’s controversial plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda could make it more difficult for North Korean defectors to settle in the country, or even result in recent arrivals’ deportation to the East African nation, defector organizations and an expert told NK News.

Connect: North Korea, a London-based nongovernmental organization (NGO), said defectors whose U.K. asylum applications are still being processed are uncertain about their future in the U.K.

“There have been some fears expressed by a few clients in the U.K. that they may be deported to Rwanda,” Catherine Dawkins, program manager at Connect: North Korea, told