SEOUL: South Korea’s spy agency has decided to retain 13 North Korean defectors at the heart of a bitter dispute between the rivals, with Pyongyang accusing Seoul of abducting the group from their posts at a restaurant in China, an official said on Tuesday. The move came ahead of a hold a South Korean court put on a request by a group of lawyers for a hearing to question 12 waitresses in the group whether they had defected of their free will, after the spy agency refused to present them in court. “The director of the National Intelligence Service has decided to extend their protection,” a South Korean official said, citing a law covering the resettlement of North Korean defectors and concerns for their safety. “A propaganda campaign by the North” over the status of the group was a factor in the decision, the government official told Reuters, requesting anonymity because the topic is sensitive. North Korea says the South abducted the 12 waitresses and the restaurant manager and has demanded their return, but the South has said the group decided to defect of its own free will. The Seoul Central District Court said it had ruled to stay a petition filed by Minbyun, or Lawyers for a Democratic Society, seeking to question the women. “We don’t think it is possible to make a decision without confirming the restaurant workers’ intent in this case,” Chae Hee-joon, a lawyer for Minbyun, told reporters, adding they had filed a recusal motion to the court, citing the women’s absence.