Number of North Korean defectors coming to South lowest in 18 years

Members of a civic group stage a protest against the Ministry of Unification to condemn the government's lapse in its support policy for the resettlement of North Korean defectors in the South, at the Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul, Nov, 8. 2019. Korea Times file

Declining number attributes to end of 'mass defection' from great famine, strengthened border surveillance, and high broker fee contribute

By Jung Da-min

The number of North Korean refugees who entered the South last year was the lowest in 18 years since the government started to document figures in 2001.

According to data from the Ministry of Unification, Jan. 27, 1,047 North Koreans defected to South Korea in 2019, down 7.9 percent from the year before. Among them, 845 were women, accounting for 81 percent.

Defections to the South had been on the rise from 1,043 in 2001 to a record high 2,914 in 2009. After North Korean leader Kim Jong-un took power in 2011, however, the number began to fall and has remained at around 1,100 to 1,500.

Another dip was observed in 2017, the year President Moon Jae-in took power. The number stood at 1,127, down 21 percent from 1,418 a year before.

North Korea watchers attribute the continuing decrease in recent years to a strengthened crackdown on refugees both in North Korea and China, as well as the ending of "mass defections" in the wake of the widespread famine in the North from 1994 to 1998.

"First of all, chronic food shortages in the North have been eased, ending mass defections. Some of those who defected from the North for food entered the South at the time, leading to the sharp increase in the number of North Korean defectors here," said Lee Kwang-baek, president of the Unification Media Group and Daily NK. "The biggest factor contributing to the decrease in the number is the decline of such mass defections due to food shortages."

Lee said strengthened surveillance of border areas, coupled with the increased cost charged by brokers for crossing the border, has also contributed to the decrease.

"After 2010, many North Korean defectors who had already entered the South brought their family members from the North. But such a thing started to decrease due to the strengthened surveillance and increased cost," Lee said.

Chun Ki-won, a pastor with the Seoul-based Durihana Mission who has been helping North Korean defectors since the 1990s, also said most of the defectors coming to the South now are those who had already gone to China during the days of mass defections while there were a small number of those "newly" brought from the North by their family members who have already entered the South.

When defectors in the South want to bring their family members from the North, they need to hire brokers but the cost has risen since 2010, he said.

"The cost used to be from 500,000 won ($424) to 2 to 3 million won until the early 2000s but the price suddenly started to increase after 2010. It was 10 to 15 million won last year," Chun said.

North Korea watchers also say insufficient welfare programs for defectors here and their difficulty in adjusting and settling down in the South can be another factor discouraging some North Koreans from defecting, as they regard it as "immigration" for freedom or money.

Last year there was a case where a North Korean defector mother and her six-year-old son were found dead at a state-built apartment in Seoul, presumably due to starvation. It was found they could not receive multiple welfare programs due to legal loopholes.

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