A civic group is dispatching a five-member inspection team to Vietnam to investigate the conditions of North Korean defectors in the country.

The Commission to Help North Korean Refugees says its delegation will travel to Vietnam via China and inspect the human rights status of North Korean defectors living there.

The delegation will also visit South Korea's consulate-general in Ho Chi Minh city and ask for improved human rights conditions for the defectors as well as discuss their possible entry into South Korea.

The civic group said there are 350 North Korean defectors in Vietnam waiting to enter South Korea and that most of them are facing human rights violations during their stay in the Southeast Asian country.