South Korea’s spy agency defended its detention and investigation of newly arrived North Korean defectors on Friday, after a U.N. committee raised concerns about a lack of safeguards to protect them during the process.

In a periodic review published last week, the U.N. Human Rights Committee (HRC) singled out the ROK’s detention of North Korean escapees seeking to resettle in the South, stating that they lack access to legal help and are vulnerable to forced repatriation when undergoing a mandatory counterintelligence investigation upon arrival.