South Korean police have stopped investigating North Korean escapees who send money back to their families in the DPRK, a practice which had led to serious unrest among defectors last year. Despite the announcement, several defectors still face prosecution for transferring small sums of money to the North. 

“[Last year,] the police investigated some remittance transfers [by escapees] by applying the Foreign Exchange Transaction Act, but since this year, there have been no related investigations,” Woo Jong-soo, head of the ROK police National Bureau of Investigation, said during a National Assembly audit of the National Police Agency (KNPA).