A South Korean human rights organization has called for an end to ongoing police investigations into North Korean defector remittances to family members still in the DPRK, emphasizing that these transfers are essential for survival and constitute a basic human right.

At a press conference in Seoul on Tuesday, organized by the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights (NKDB), two North Korean defector brokers testified that they have faced police scrutiny for about 15 months for helping defectors send money to their families via a Chinese broker.

Hwang Ji-sung, one of the brokers, criticized South Korean authorities for targeting