Malta effectively deports N. Koreans, 3 defected to S. Korea: sources

Three North Koreans who worked in the European Union country of Malta but were forced out defected to South Korea last summer, sources familiar with the matter said Thursday.

Two North Korean restaurant workers disappeared last summer and one North Korean construction worker went missing in the first half of this year. They are presumed to have defected to the South, according to local residents of the island nation and the intelligence community.

The defection, if true, may indicate that a growing number of North Koreans working in restaurants and companies set up by the communist country to earn hard currency abroad are defecting and seeking new lives in the South. Thirteen North Koreans working at a Pyongyang-run restaurant in the Chinese eastern port city of Ningbo defected to the South en masse in April.  
 
"I've heard one of the three defectors called his acquaintance (in Malta) to say he (or she) has entered the education program that helps him (or her) get accustomed to life in the South," a Malta resident who keeps in contact with the defector said.

When contacted by Yonhap News Agency, Unification Ministry spokeswoman Park Soo-jin said, "We are checking on the matter, but we won't confirm their current status even if they have successfully defected to South Korea." 

Photo taken on July 28, shows the downtown streets of Valetta, the capital city of Malta. (Yonhap)

Meanwhile, the government of Malta has effectively deported some 20 North Korean workers amid international concern the regime in Pyongyang is abusing such workers to earn hard currency, government sources said.

Malta is the first European Union nation to take such a measure.

Sources said that Malta has sent North Korean workers back home in the form of denying an extension of their expiring visas. Under the measure, some 20 North Koreans, who had worked at construction sites and garment factories, have all returned to the North, according to the sources.

Local construction firm Rite Mix and garment firm Leisure Clothing confirmed to Yonhap News Agency that all North Korean workers have left.

An official of Rite Mix said that about 15 North Koreans had worked for the company, but all of them left en masse around late May. A Leisure Clothing official also said that the company is no longer hiring North Korean workers.

Malta is considered having the closest relations with North Korea among EU members.

A source said that there have been continued media reports in Malta that North Korea workers have been suffering from long working hours and other abuses while getting only one third of their wages with the rest sent to their government.

Another diplomatic source said that it is meaningful in that Malta, even though it's the smallest country in the EU, has taken such a measure for the first time as a EU nation. The source added that other EU members could follow suit. (Yonhap)