A North Korean weekly reported that it has filed a protest with the United Nations and the Red Cross to help stop the exodus of its citizens to South Korea, following the secret airlift of some 460 North Koreans to Seoul in July.
In a letter to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, North Korea called the airlift a "terrorist act perpetrated in broad daylight," accusing Seoul and Washington of "kidnapping" its citizens.
In a letter to the Red Cross. Pyongyang said "We urge you to take all possible steps to stop the US and South Korea from kidnapping our people disguising them as defectors."
The North Korean letters, carried by a week-old issue of the Pyongyang newspaper Tongil-shinbo were posted Saturday on a North Korean website(www.uriminzokkiri.com).
North Korea said the South runs a widespread network of agents in China and other Asian countries to "lure and abduct" North Koreans.
Thousands of North Koreans have fled to the South in recent years from the communist state, which has been condemned by the United Nations for human rights violations.