Some 300 NK defectors stay in S. Korea's overseas missions: data

A total of 295 North Koreans are staying in South Korea's overseas diplomatic missions worldwide on their way here, government data showed Thursday.

According to the report that Seoul's foreign ministry submitted to the National Assembly for regular audit, Seoul's overseas missions are currently protecting 295 North Koreans, who are waiting to be admitted into the South. In general, such defectors stay one to two months in Seoul's overseas missions, the ministry said.

More than 2,000 North Koreans have settled in the South over the past five years, with 2,081 coming here in 2008, 2,401 in 2010 and 2,706 last year, according to the data. As of July this year, 915 North Koreans had arrived here, it showed.

During the cited period, North Koreans filed a total of 114 cases of petition to the missions, asking for a prompt arrival in South Korea, improvement of the circumstances in overseas missions and changes in the country they hope to settle in, among other things, the ministry said.

More than 24,000 North Koreans have defected to the South in recent decades after traveling through China, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries, government data showed. The Koreas are divided by a heavily fortified border as a result of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. (Yonhap)

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