A South Korean human rights commission said on Monday it will investigate whether a dozen North Korean restaurant workers who defected to the South two years ago came of their own free will or were tricked or coerced by an intelligence agent.
The 12 waitresses and their manager left a North Korean state-run restaurant in China to go to South Korea via Malaysia in April 2016.
Seoul promptly announced their defection, but North Korea says they were abducted by South Korean agents and demands their repatriation.