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| Image: Wiki Commons |
By John Power
The number of North Korean defectors reaching the South has declined severely since Kim Jong-un took power.
The number of North Korean defectors who reached South Korea last year was the lowest in 13 years, data showed, continuing the sharp decline that has followed Kim Jong-un’s rise to power in Pyongyang.
According to figures released by the South’s Ministry of Unification earlier this month, 1,277 North Koreans settled in South Korea in 2015, a decline of 120 from the year before. The data shows that fewer North Korean escapees reached the South than in any year since 2002, when 1,142 resettled south of the 38th parallel that divides the Koreas.
The number reaching South Korea had been on an upward trend before Kim Jong-un assumed control of North Korea in December 2011, reaching a high of 2,914 in 2009. In 2012, Kim’s first full year in power, that number plummeted: just 1,502 North Koreans resettled in the South compared to 2,706 in 2011. Since then, the figures have remained far below pre-2012 levels; last year’s figure represents an almost 53 percent drop from 2011.
Sokeel Park, who works with defectors with non-profit Liberty in North Korea, told The Diplomat the drop was consistent with heightened security on the North Korean-Chinese border, as well as within China itself.
“The security situation on both sides has increased and that has been cited by a lot of people, including refugees, as part of the reason why it is so difficult to both escape from North Korea and get through China and, eventually, to make it to South Korea,” Park said.
Read the full story at The Diplomat