PYONGYANG -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) denounced the South Korean authorities for "abducting youngsters and abusing anti-DPRK human rights," the official KCNA news agency reported Wednesday.

A Central Committee of the DPRK Red Cross Society spokesman said in a statement the South Korean authorities, "who sent human trafficking dealers under the guise of religionists, abducted and detained dozens of youngsters, and committed all kinds of evil acts against them," were "unprecedented actions against humanity."

"They forced the young people to recite the bible to make them believe in God for years, showed them undesirable films every day in a sinister attempt to hurt the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK and its social system," the unnamed spokesman said.

He said the human rights of the popular masses, including school youth and children, were "fully guaranteed, with the DPRK's socialist system centered on the popular masses fully established."

The statement came in a response to Seoul's warning that Pyongyang should ensure the safety of nine young DPRK defectors, who were forced to return home last week from China after being caught in Laos.

"The government strongly demands the North Korean (DPRK) authorities ensure the lives and safety of forcibly repatriated North Koreans," Seoul's foreign ministry spokesman Cho Tai-young said Tuesday.

The nine, reportedly orphans aged between 15 and 23, fled the country in April and entered Laos via China on May 9. A week later, they were detained by Laotian authorities and taken on to a plane back to China.