North Korean defectors caught by secret police ‘vanish’: rights group [Video]

SEOUL –

More than 100 North Koreans have gone missing after being caught by secret police while trying to defect from the isolated country or even for trying to call relatives in South Korea, a Seoul-based human rights group said on Thursday.

The Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG) released a report detailing patterns of enforced disappearances through its study based on interviews with 62 North Korean escapees in South Korea.

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Tens of thousands of North Koreans have defected in the decades since the Korean War ended in 1953 with an armistice, with many of those caught or repatriated sent to prison camps or other detention facilities before being released.

The group identified 113 people in 66 disappearance cases, including the cases in an archive run with other international organizations, as well as maps depicting transfer routes.

Of …