A spokesman for the North Korean Foreign Ministry condemned South Korea’s move to prevent defectors from the country in China from being repatriated to North Korea, the country’s state-run Korean Central News Agency said today.

The ministry denied the people in question are “defectors” and accused South Korea of abducting its citizens who were either traveling or on business in China, the KCNA reported, citing the spokesman. The North Korean ministry was responding to challenges made by a South Korean delegation at a United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva about human rights in North Korea.

To contact the reporter on this story: Douglas Lytle in Prague at dlytle@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James M. Gomez at jagomez@bloomberg.net