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.

But those who escaped the DPRK say the regime will be wary of these North Koreans who have lived for so long