Six North Korean defectors who sought refuge at American embassies in Southeast Asia arrived in the United States Saturday morning.

A source from a civic group helping North Korean defectors told KBS Sunday over the phone that he received a call from Washington confirming their safe arrival.

He said five or six more defectors are undergoing procedures to obtain refugee status from the United States and that a U.S. official will likely soon announce how the defectors arrived.

The Associated Press quoted U.S. Senator Sam Brownback as saying the six defectors were the first to arrive in the United States via a third country since the enactment of the North Korea Human Rights Act in 2004.

He said two of the six were women who fled the North after being sold as sex slaves or forced into marriage.