A group of North Korean defectors has resettled in Canada through private sponsorship for the first time, a Canada-based human rights organization announced Wednesday.

HanVoice said that the defectors arrived at Toronto Pearson Airport, where they were greeted by Canadian sponsor groups holding welcome signs.

While HanVoice did not disclose the identities or genders of the defectors, media reports suggest they are all women who fled North Korea before the COVID-19 pandemic and had been staying in a Southeast Asian country.

Canada now joins the U.S. and South Korea as the third country to legally accept North Korean defectors for