North Korea’s propaganda Web site, Uriminzokkiri, has again denied recent media reports surrounding the fate of nine young North Korean defectors who were arrested and repatriated by Laos in May of last year.
 
The Web site released video footage of the nine defectors for a second day on Thursday which included images of five escapees that were not included in a video revealed a day earlier.
 
Among the five youths were Moon Chol and Paek Yong-won who were reported to have been executed following their return home. The footage showed Moon studying at a middle school and Paek studying at a classroom in an education college. The video also included interviews with the two youths.
 
The latest footage did not reveal when it was filmed, but it is likely to have been filmed recently as a calendar in the background shows the month of December. 
 
Earlier this month, the head of the Seoul-based Dream Makers for North Korea, Park Sun-young, told South Korean media that Moon and Paek were executed around August and September this year and that the remaining seven escapees were sent to an internment camp last spring.
 
The nine were arrested by Laotian police near the country’s border in May of last year and were sent back to North Korea through China.