Mongolia detained four North Koreans this month for illegally entering the country, immigration authorities announced, in a rare press release from a country that usually helps defectors by allowing them to travel elsewhere once they cross the border.

“On the 10th of May, four citizens of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea were found illegally crossing from the People’s Republic of China to our country. These individuals have been transferred to legal facilities,” the General Authority for Border Protection stated in a press release that has since been deleted from its website.

The border authority did not specify whether the North Koreans intended to defect and Mongolian authorities did not respond to an NK News question about whether they will be repatriated to the DPRK.

Mongolia is about 500 miles (800 km) from North Korea and is a known destination for North Koreans seeking to defect. Separating the two countries is China, which arrests defectors as “economic migrants” and sends them back.

Mongolia may have publicly announced the arrest because North Korea’s foreign minister might visit Mongolia soon on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties Anthony Rinna, an expert on DPRK-Central Asia relations, told NK News.

Mongolia has previously allowed defectors to go to the South Korean embassy where they can apply to be sent to the South, though it is unclear if that is what will happen this time. Mongolia has an inconsistent record of how it deals with DPRK nationals, sometimes choosing to repatriate North Koreans.