The Japanese government is looking to arrange a meeting of nine North Korean defectors and South Korean government officials.

Japan’s Kyodo news said the Japanese government has decided to send the defectors to South Korea. It reported that South Korean government officials are planning to meet with them and confirm in person their wishes to go to South Korea.

A South Korean government official said the aim of the meeting is to confirm the North Korean defectors intentions, but the South's government had not yet discussed with Japan a schedule on the meeting.

In June 2007, four North Korean defectors were discovered in waters off Japan's Aomori Prefecture. A consul in the South Korean embassy in Japan met with and confirmed their intention before sending them to South Korea.