An association of North Korean defectors is denouncing plans by South Korea's National Human Rights Commission to investigate a 2016 group defection of North Korean restaurant workers.

In a press conference Tuesday in front of the presidential office in Seoul, the group warned the probe puts all North Korean defectors in the South in danger.

They said the commission’s move raises the possibility that those coming to the South over their own free will can be repatriated.
 
The group is calling on the South Korean government to promise not to repatriate the North Korean restaurant employees, and it's demanding an apology from the lawyer group making allegations the employees came to the South against their wishes.