Defectors accused of taking part in an abduction plot have denied the accusations and said that the recently arrested Ko Hyon-chol would have been coerced into making them by North Korean authorities following his arrest.

Ko, a defector himself, was detained in May for what North Korea claimed to be a plot to kidnap North Korean orphans and remove them from the country.

In his televised ‘confession’ last week, Ko had described certain defectors, including Ju Seong-ha, as U.S. and South Korean intelligence agency collaborators involved in the plot.

“I laughed for a long time when I read that North Korean announcement – spoken