North Korea on Sunday refuted again the claim by a Seoul rights group that the North executed or put into prison camps nine young defectors caught in Laos in 2013, saying that some of them have become college students.

A civic group on North Korea's human rights has claimed that among them, two people were executed and the remainder were sent to prison camps after being repatriated to the North in Laos two years ago.

North Korea again refuted the claim, making public photos of four of the defectors as college students.

In December, the North held a press conference with the suspected nine defectors present to disprove the same claim made earlier by the group.

"These are the most disgusting claims made by South Korean conservative media and activists that they were executed or caught in concentration camps," said the Tongil Sinbo, a weekly propaganda magazine in the North.

The Seoul civic group named Mulmangcho has said that North Korea's claim is fabricated, raising speculation that the North used stand-ins for the conference last year. (Yonhap)