A group of North Korean defectors arrive in Seoul, in this file photo from April 2016. Courtesy of the Ministry of UnificationSEOUL, February 7 (AJP) - The number of North Korean defectors here reached 236 last year, up 20.4 percent from the previous year.
The uptick was partly due to those who had been stranded in third countries during the coronavirus pandemic finally making their way to the South.
According to the Ministry of Unification on Tuesday, some 26 of them were men, while the rest were women. As of the end of last year, a total of 34,314 North Koreans had defected to South Korea since records began. Women accounted for over 70 percent of them with nearly 25,000.
The ministry attributed this to the tendency that men appear to be more bound by the North Korean regime's tightly controlled society than women.
The ministry said many of these defectors in recent years had spent extended periods in third countries, often passing through Southeast Asia before reaching Seoul.
It added that strict border controls with China during the pandemic made their journey challenging, delaying their eventual arrival in South Korea.
Only three defectors directly crossed the border from North Korea into South Korea last year: one drifted into South Korean waters near Gyodong Island, near Incheon another crossed the border on foot in Goseong, Gangwon Province, and a third defected by boat in the West Sea.
"Since the pandemic, border controls have tightened, and even travel within China has become extremely difficult," a ministry official said. "In the past, defectors could pay brokers to facilitate their escape, but that is no longer a viable option. Crossing the North Korea-China border to defect has now become extremely difficult."
Meanwhile, the number of North Koreans escaping to the South has steadily declined over the past decade, after a peak of 2,914 in 2009. About 2,706 defectors newly settled here the following year, but the number has since nearly halved, falling to 1,047 in 2019.
reporter
Kim Joo-heon
jhkim123@ajunews.com
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