Three North Korean defectors are soon expected to enter South Korea after they fled from a Pyongyang-owned restaurant in China earlier this month.

According to a source familiar with the case on Monday, they are waiting at a defectors’ refugee camp in Thailand while South Korean officials sort out paperwork with local officials as the defectors do not possess passports.

They are said to have reached Thailand after traveling through inner China and Laos after escaping from their workplace in Shanxi, China.
 
It remains uncertain if South Korean officials will publicize details of the three defectors as they did when 13 North Korean workers fled from a North Korean restaurant in Ningbo, China in April.