The South Korean government’s human rights watchdog alleged the Unification Ministry did not accurately take into account the views of North Korean defectors after changing the official term used to describe them.

The state-funded National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) said it investigated the matter after receiving a complaint from a defector who claimed to have been excluded from the ministry’s survey asking about changing the terminology used to describe defectors, according to the commission Wednesday.

The ministry began using “North Korean-born citizens” (북향민)” in official documents and statements to refer to North Korean defectors (탈북민) starting January.

Unification