In July 2004, 468 North Korean refugees were airlifted to South Korea in the single largest mass defection; Vietnam initially tried to keep their role in the airlift secret, and in advance of the deal, even anonymous sources in the South Korean government would only tell reporters that the defectors came from "an unidentified Asian country".
2004年7月，468名朝鲜难民被空运到韩国，越南最初试图掩饰自己在空运中的角色，交易之前，韩国政府的匿名消息来源甚至只会告诉记者，脱北者来自「某不明亚洲国家」。