The government has dismissed North Korea’s accusations that South Korea kidnapped 13 North Koreans working at a Pyongyang-owned restaurant in China and depicted the abduction as a mass defection.

A Unification Ministry official in Seoul on Thursday addressed CNN's interview with the seven colleagues of the defectors from the same restaurant, who claimed that the North Koreans were tricked into going to South Korea.

While downplaying the accusation as not worth commenting on, the ministry official reiterated that the 13 North Koreans defected to the South voluntarily earlier this month.

The ministry rejected the North Korean Red Cross's call for a face-to-face meeting between the defectors and their family members. It cited international customs and the intentions of the defectors as reasons for not granting the opportunity.