AP-Yonhap



By Lee Ji-hye

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un has demanded that officials "go to South Korea if they have to" to arrest those who defected on his birthday, according to Radio Free Asia (RFA).

The non-profit news outlet quoted internal sources as saying Kim was furious when told that 16 North Koreans defected on February 16.

"During Kim's birthday, the nation was under a special warning period for defecting, and when reported by his officials, Kim ordered them to send out an arrest squad to catch the ‘fleed family,'" the source was quoted as saying.

The source also said officials were threatened with punishment if they failed to bring back the defectors from North Hamgyong Province.

Pyongyang's propaganda website, "Uriminzokkiri," published a statement asking the defectors "to return to the arms of their republic," and that the nation's "heavens have newly opened" after the so-called arduous march.

Sources have estimated that up to 3.5 million people died during the great famine, also known as the arduous march, from 1994 to 1998.