Russian authorities are searching for a North Korean woman and her son who disappeared from the Far East city of Vladivostok earlier this week, NK News has confirmed, in what local media have reported as a possible defection attempt.

The nongovernmental organization PrimPoisk told NK News that “the search continues” for the two DPRK nationals, after previously announcing that they went missing on Sunday.

In a Telegram post uploaded Tuesday, PrimPoisk identified the missing DPRK citizens as 43-year-old Kim Kum Sun and 15-year-old Pak Kwon Ju. The post stated that the mother and son “left the territory of the DPRK