Twenty North Korean defectors have recently arrived in Seoul after weeks in the South Korean Embassy in Laos, according to a recent news article by the Chosun Ilbo. The group includes children, disabled people, cancer patients, and the elderly. Once they have been questioned, they will be resettled in South Korea.

Their safe arrival follows a high-profile repatriation of nine North Korean defectors from Laos to North Korea. The South Korean government moved quickly to protect the twenty defectors, after an outcry arose over the nine who were repatriated.

Defectors are usually interviewed by Laotian authorities to find out whether or not they want to go to South Korea, but until last month the twenty defectors had not been questioned, raising fears that the established escape route through Laos would be closed.