Number of N.K. defectors soars this year: Seoul

The number of North Korean defectors who resettled in the South climbed more than 15 percent from a year ago to 815 in the first seven months of this year, Seoul’s Unification Ministry said Tuesday.

The increase could be a sign of the economic suffering and oppression in the communist state, the ministry suggested.

If the current upward trend continues, the yearly total is expected to reach 1,400 and the accumulated tally to hit 30,000. This would mark a rebound following a two-year decline.

Since its peak at 2,914 in 2009, the figure had dwindled to 1,276, especially since North Korean leader Kim Jong-un took power in late 2011 and authorities sharply toughened border controls and penalties for failed escape attempts. 

The perceived reversal may reflect unabated political and social repression and deepening economic difficulties in the isolated country amid tightening international sanctions over its nuclear program.

Some recent cases include senior military officers or people from relatively wealthy backgrounds, such as the mass defection of workers at overseas North Korean restaurants who were tasked with earning foreign currency.

“For now more North Koreans are coming to the South in particular via China, but we need to wait and see if the pace will continue through the end of the year,” a ministry official told reporters on customary condition of anonymity.

“In the Kim Jong-un era, the number has risen for those who flew directly from China, while the length of their stays there before arriving here has relatively shortened compared with the past, when it was as many as 10 years. Apparently their lives in China, too, have grown tougher.”

But the official remained cautious about the proportion of elites and the middle-class, citing differences in standards and perceptions.

Many activists and advocate groups say they are struggling to meet soaring demand for help from would-be escapees on the back of a jump in defection costs due partly to reinforced border security.

A Seoul-based missionary nongovernmental organization supported the arrival here of 121 North Koreans through China last year alone, and it is now striving to raise funds to respond to growing requests.

“I cannot determine whether more from the elite are seeking to exit than before, but the sheer number of aspiring defectors is up this year,” a Seoul expert linked with the NGO said, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.

By Shin Hyon-hee(heeshin@heraldcorp.com)