BEIJING (Kyodo) Pyongyang has issued arrest warrants for Japan-based activists who have helped North Koreans "flee" their country, the North's official Korean Central News Agency reported Monday in an apparent retaliatory move against Tokyo.
The warrants are believed to be a tit-for-tat measure against Japan, which recently put two North Korean agents on the international wanted list and conducted raids in Japan in connection with Pyongyang's abductions of Japanese civilians in the 1970s and 1980s.
A government source said Tokyo has been informed of the issuance of the warrants through diplomatic channels. Those named in the warrants are believed to have helped North Koreans who have escaped into China gain safe passage to a third country.