North Korea Posts Video Appeals From Defectors’ Families

North Korea has escalated a propaganda struggle over the defection of four people to the South by posting Internet videos in which relatives of the two men and two women appeal for their return.

In the videos, posted Wednesday on a North Korean website, parents, children and spouses of the defectors accuse South Korea of holding the four against their will. One woman pleads emotionally for her daughter to “be returned to her mother's arms right away.”

The four defectors were among 31 North Koreans on a fishing boat that drifted into South Korean waters last month. The South has sought to repatriate the 27 who say they want to go home, but North Korea has refused to take back any of the group unless they all come.

North Korea asked previously to have the four brought to the border village of Panmunjom to tell their relatives why they won't come home. The South agreed to a meeting but refused to bring the defectors.

South Korea's Red Cross appealed to North Korea again Wednesday to take back the 27 who want to go home.