Minju Joson Saturday observes in a by-lined commentary in this regard:

This is an undisguised serious provocation against the DPRK as it was a thrice-cursed hideous abduction committed by the scoundrels utterly indifferent to humanitarianism and international practice.

What merits a serious attention is that the group persistently conducted the operation for their defection defying the DPRK's repeated demand for their repatriation.

An ulterior aim sought by the group in the abduction of the inhabitants and the operation for their defection was to keep them in custody in south Korea in a bid to tarnish the image of the DPRK and further strain the inter-Korean relations and, furthermore, use them for its smear campaign to escalate the confrontation with fellow countrymen.

The above-said abduction can never be tolerated.

Those who go mad with the confrontation with compatriots will have to pay dearly for their crimes.

The puppet group should halt the moves to escalate the confrontation and send the detained inhabitants back to the north without delay so that they may reunite with their families.