North Korea has renewed restrictions on its diplomats posted abroad which allow them to bring only one child with them overseas.

North Korean diplomats currently stationed abroad have therefore been found to be sending family members back home.

South Korea's National Intelligence Service has confirmed parts of the new guideline.

The "one child policy" for diplomats had last been in effect in 2002. Before then, only preschoolers and secondary school students - not kindergartners or college students - could stay with their diplomat parents abroad. Pyongyang then lifted the ban for officials who could afford to bring more children along.

The latest move comes as more North Korean diplomats are defecting with their entire families.