Seoul-based North Korean human rights groups held a news conference on Tuesday and urged the government to withdraw its so-called "improved" plan for processing North Korean defectors.

The activists claimed the government plan, announced last month, would eventually prohibit North Korean escapees from taking safe refuge in South Korea.

The new guidelines dealing with North Korean asylum seekers include measures limiting the entry and departure of defection-brokers to and from South Korea and stringent review processes purportedly aimed at weeding out criminals and fraudulent applicants from among would-be asylum-seekers.

The civic members lashed out at what they called Seoul's irresponsible handling of the defectors' issue and called for substantive efforts to improve the human rights conditions of North Korean escapees.