Months of “reeducation” sessions, or even forced labor, await thousands of overseas North Koreans when they return home for the first time in over three and a half years, two defectors told NK News.

A tourism company claimed last week that the DPRK is preparing to ease COVID-19 border restrictions to allow its own citizens back into the country, and South Korean media have reported that as many as 400 students studying overseas could return this week.