An unknown small number of North Korean restaurant staff have recently escaped their workplace in China for possible defections to South Korea, a source familiar to inter-Korean affairs said Monday.

The North Koreans are moving to a third country after working at a North Korea-run restaurant in an unspecified city in China, according to the source.

If confirmed, the case comes in the wake of the April mass defection by 13 North Korean workers who used to work at a restaurant in the Chinese eastern port city of Ningbo. (Yonhap)