North Korean defectors who fled to South Korea while working overseas are said to have testified they find the political system in their home country hopeless.
 
Seoul's Unification Ministry official on Sunday revealed the result of the South Korean government's investigation into the motives behind the mass defection of 13 North Koreans on Friday.
 
The official said that one of the defectors told South Korean authorities that they fled to the South after the latest UN sanctions on North Korea came into force in early March.
 
The defector was also cited as telling Seoul officials that UN sanctions made it difficult for the workers to obtain cash to send to North Korea and the sanctions had “ended all hope” for North Korea. Another defector was also quoted as saying that South Korean TV drama was their source of knowledge about the South.

Seoul officials said most of the defectors were from middle class families in the North. The male manager is in his 30s. Only one of the 12 workers is over 30 years old and the others are between the ages of 22 and 25.
 
According to previous reports, all employees of the restaurant defected. But it's now reported that around 20 North Koreans worked there.