North Korean media have reported on the group defection of North Korean workers at a restaurant in China for the first time and reiterated the call for South Korea to repatriate the defectors.
 
The North's Korean Central Television on Thursday carried a statement issued by the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland. The committee claimed in the statement that the restaurant workers were abducted and must be sent back home immediately.
 
Since the North Koreans' group defection to South Korea took place on April seventh, Pyongyang has only mentioned the incident through news media for audiences outside the country and has remained silent on media channels viewed by its domestic audience.
 
In the statement, the North Korean committee again demanded the repatriation of the restaurant workers and threatened a "merciless response" against the South Korean presidential office if Seoul rejected the call. 
 
The North's Korean Central News Agency also cited the committee as calling for swift measures, so that family members can travel to Seoul to bring their children back home. 
 
Thirteen employees who worked at a North Korean restaurant in Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province in southern China defected to South Korea earlier this month.