The National Human Rights Commission has announced expanded plans for its investigation into the 2016 defection of a group of China-based North Korean restaurant workers. 
 
The commission says it plans to question officials from the Defense Ministry and Foreign Ministry, in addition to earlier plans to seek answers from the Unification Ministry, National Intelligence Service, and other government entities.

Investigators are following up on whether the workers knowingly defected to South Korea, and whether they were deceived, coerced, or blackmailed in any way.

The restaurant manager who organized the defection has told news organization he tricked the workers in cooperation with South Korean officials.

However, North Korea's ability to threaten or punish family members the restaurant workers left behind is a sensitive issue which complicates the process of establishing the true facts of the case.