North Korea has publicly lashed out at Vietnam for its alleged involvement in the recent defection of some four-hundred-50 North Koreans to Seoul.

A spokesman of the North's Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that his government had obtained sufficient evidence to back its claim that Vietnam was the third Southeast Asian country that took part in what Pyongyang called an "abduction scheme plotted by Seoul and Washington."

Fearing a deterioration of inter-Korean relations, the Seoul government has sought to keep the details of the mass defection under wraps, refusing to identify the third country from which the defectors were flown in.

The four-hundred-50 North Koreans were transported to Seoul last week in two planeloads in the single largest one-time defection.