A Korean Chinese, currently standing trial in a Seoul court for kidnapping at least one South Korean national and several North Korean defectors, has confessed to his crimes.

The man, identified only by his family name Yoo, said he took part in the abductions in order to "make a living."

Yoo was part of an eight or nine member team of abductors, led by North Korean intelligence agents that sought out and kidnapped North Korean refugees attempting to escape their homeland and even South Koreans helping them, to drag them back to the communist North.

Yoo said he had participated in one incident where a high-profile South Korean activist, Reverend Kim Dong-shik, was captured and sent to North Korea on January 16, 2000.

He said the North Korean abduction squads have captured 15 people in about 10 attempts between 1999 and 2000.

North Korea has apparently been running such squads that freely crosses the Sino-Korean border and raids safe houses on Chinese territory, often in the guise of Chinese security forces.

South Korea's National Intelligence Service said North Korean agents dress up as Chinese police to raid defector hideouts and kidnap their occupants.