South Korea’s Seoul
CNN —
According to officials, the number of North Korean defectors entering South Korea in 2023 almost tripled over the previous two years, with a greater proportion of young people and members of the North Korean elite among them.
In a briefing, the Unification Ministry of South Korea reported that 196 defectors entered the nation in the previous year. Government data showed that 84% of the participants were women or girls, and more than half were in their 20s and 30s.
1,047 defectors arrived in 2019, a small fraction of pre-pandemic levels, but a notable increase following a sharp fall during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In 2020, North Korea closed its already-tight borders, further isolating the reclusive state. Government data shows that only 63 defectors entered South Korea in 2021 and 67 in 2022.
In 2023, the nation started to partially reopen, enabling citizens who had been living abroad to return and restarting international travel to a few nations, such as China and Russia. However, according to the Unification Ministry, some North Koreans who were living abroad made the decision to flee to the South rather than return.
About ten items that were considered elite. According to the ministry, the number of North Koreans who defected last year was the highest since 2017. Among them are “students based abroad, other officials, and diplomats who were ordered to return last year as the pandemic has a new phase.
“Knowing that the economic situation even worsened and internal controls strengthened in North Korea, many must have found it unacceptable after experiencing what (it) was like to live in the free world,” the official stated.
The ministry stated that for security concerns, more information could not be provided.
According to South Korean officials, discontent with the ruling Kim regime was the main reason given for defection in 2023. This was followed by North Korea’s hunger and lack of food, which had been the most common explanation in previous years.
The country’s wealthy elite, including senior government officials and their families, are said to have access to luxuries like air conditioning, coffee, and even smartphones, though the phones can only access the heavily censored government-run intranet. Meanwhile, millions of North Koreans live in poverty under the dynastic dictatorship of leader Kim Jong Un.
The majority of these people reside in Pyongyang, the country’s capital, where a select few enjoy amenities like theaters, department stores, and indoor fitness centers.
The ministry stated that the majority of people who entered South Korea last year had actually left North Korea years earlier and had spent a considerable amount of time in third countries before traveling to Seoul. The ministry further stated that the diversification of defection routes was indicative of the “very tough” circumstances that exist within North Korea.
A large number of defectors enter China by way of the Yalu River, which divides North Korea and China. Many people enter China and then illegally cross into Laos or Myanmar, where they aim to reach the South Korean embassy or proceed all the way to Thailand.
According to the ministry, while the South Korean government is trying to assist North Korean defectors who are trying to enter the nation, it is also keeping a careful eye on the possibility that the number of defectors could progressively rise if North Korea were to open its border with China.
North Korean defectors are not seen as refugees by China, a close ally of Pyongyang, but rather as unauthorized economic migrants. It deports them forcibly in accordance with a border agreement with North Korea.
Activists claim that after returning to North Korea, defectors may be subjected to sexual assault, torture, hard labor, detention in camps for political or reeducation, or even execution by the government.
