(LEAD) Number of N. Korean defectors entering S. Korea nearly triples in 2023

▲ North Korean defectors receive computer education at Hanawon in Anseong, south of Seoul, in this file photo taken July 10, 2023, on the occasion of the 24th anniversary of the opening of the resettlement center for North Korean defectors. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)

(LEAD) NK defectors-2023 tally

(LEAD) Number of N. Korean defectors entering S. Korea nearly triples in 2023

(ATTN: UPDATES with more details in para 4)

By Lee Minji

SEOUL, Jan. 18 (Yonhap) -- The number of North Korean defectors who arrived in South Korea came to 196 last year amid a rise in defections by North Korean diplomats and trade officials, government data showed Thursday.

The defections by 32 men and 164 women raised the total number of the North's defectors in South Korea to 34,078, according to the data from Seoul's unification ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs.

The figure represented a hike from 2021 and 2022, when the number of North Korean defectors entering South Korea fell sharply to 63 and 67, respectively, due to pandemic-related border closures. It marked a dramatic decline from a record high of 2,914 in 2009, according to the unification ministry.

Among those who came to the South last year, more than half, or 99 people, were in their 20s and 30s, the ministry said. Nearly 23 percent of them said they chose to defect as they disliked the North Korean regime, followed by 21.4 percent citing food shortages.

The ministry said there has been a rise in the number of defections by North Korean diplomats, trade officials and students studying overseas, adding the number of such defectors in so-called elite groups came to around 10.

A ministry official said the number was the highest in recent years, without further providing details, such as comparable figures.

North Korean diplomats stationed at the country's overseas missions and officials engaged in trade affairs are believed to have chosen to flee their oppressive home country, as they are under pressure to send hard currency to the regime.

In November, North Korea's foreign ministry said it is restructuring its overseas missions to boost diplomatic efficiency, which Seoul's unification ministry assessed as being affected by the North's faltering economy, worsened by the U.N. sanctions on its nuclear and missile programs.

South Korea has a longstanding policy of accepting any North Korean defectors who want to live in the South and repatriating any North Koreans who stray into the South if they want to return.

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