Ministry of Unification meets mother and daughter of North Korean defectors... "Washing is a luxury in North Korea."

The Ministry of Unification invited North Korean defectors' mothers and daughters and female diplomats from South Korea to hold a meeting to mark World Girls' Day today.

Vice Minister Kim Soo-kyung said in her greeting, "We must protect the dreams of North Korean refugee girls who came to South Korea in search of opportunities and dreams, overcoming the experiences of discrimination, prejudice, and violence experienced in North Korean life and defection."

Roh Jin-hae, a North Korean defector who attended the meeting, said that washing was a luxury in North Korea, and then shared her thoughts on the difficulties she experienced in the process of defection and settlement in Korea.

Noh Yang is the one who appeared in the documentary "Beyond Utopia," which deals with his mother Woo Young-bok's journey across China, Vietnam, and Laos from escaping North Korea to South Korea.

The meeting was attended by female diplomats from Guatemala, Czech Republic, Hungary, the European Union, and Colombia, who are stationed in South Korea with their elderly mother and daughter.