The nine young North Korean defectors who were sent back home from Laos late last month had originally planned to seek asylum in the U.S., a South Korean human rights activist said Monday.

The North Koreans, aged between 15 and 23, were caught in Laos on May 10 for illegal border trespassing. Seventeen days later, they were expelled to China where they were deported a day later to their home country where they were feared to face severe punishment.

The nine first fled the North in 2011 and had been hiding in China before moving to Laos, a usual defection route, in the hopes of settling in a third country, which was later confirmed to be the U.S. A South Korean Christian pastor, surnamed Ju, assisted them during the escape, according to the activist, Kim Hee-tae.

"Pastor Ju had planned to send the young defectors to the U.S. through the U.S. Embassy in Laos ... but they abruptly changed their destination to South Korea after being arrested by the Lao police on May 10," the activist told Yonhap News Agency.

According to the activist, the pastor had planned to lead the defectors into the American embassy in Vientiane, the Lao capital, but changed the plan after they were arrested by the police there.

The activist said he became aware of the group's escape scenario in phone conversations with the pastor on May 8-9.

The activist said the escape plan was financed by Suzanne Scholte, a well-known American activist fighting for North Korea human rights.

In a recent interview with South Korean journalists, Scholte, the head of the Defense Forum Foundation and the North Korea Freedom Coalition in Washington D.C., said she joined a project to salvage a total of 15 North Koreans holing up in China for years.

They included the nine youngsters deported.

Scholte said three of the 15 had resettled in the U.S., while another three chose to go South Korea.

A source well versed in North Korean defectors in China also backed the activist's claim that the nine had originally planned to seek asylum in the U.S. He said he had visited the pastor's dwelling in Dandong, China in April.

The source said Scholte had asked the pastor to bring the nine North Koreans to the U.S. embassy in Laos but the plan did not work as the group was arrested by the Lao police. (Yonhap News)