More North Koreans fled to South Korea in 2023

In 2023, three times as many North Koreans fled to South Korea compared to the previous year.

The main reason is dissatisfaction with Kim Jong-Un’s rule, according to the defectors themselves.

More and more also belong to the country’s elite.

The increase has taken place in connection with North Korea easing border controls after the corona pandemic.

A total of 196 people completed the risky journey last year. Many defectors were in their 20s and 30s, while 80 percent were women.

But there are still significantly fewer compared to how it looked before the pandemic, writes The Guardian.

Ordered to shoot deserters

In early 2020, North Korea closed its border with China to prevent the virus from crippling their already deficient healthcare system. It was then reported that the guards were ordered to shoot suspected defectors and the number of people trying to escape plummeted.

In 2021 and 2022, only 63 and 67 North Koreans managed to reach South Korea, respectively. The corresponding figure for 2019 was over 1,000 people.

Few North Koreans cross the demilitarized zone, which has been called “the world’s most dangerous border”, or via the sea border between the countries.

The most common escape route is instead via China, where they then seek a new life in the south through a third country.

More defectors within the elite

According to South Korean authorities, the background of the latest defectors suggests that there is growing dissatisfaction with Kim Jong-Un’s regime.

Last year, ten of them belonged to the country’s elite. The highest figure since 2017, according to South Korea’s Unification Ministry. Among them were both students and diplomats.

“North Korean diplomats, other officials and students based abroad were told to return last year as the pandemic entered a new phase,” a Unification Ministry official told the newspaper The Korea Times and continues:

“Many must have found it unacceptable after experiencing what it’s like to live in the free world, knowing that the economic situation was even worsening in North Korea.”

Dissatisfaction with the political system

One of the most high-profile defectors is Thae Yong-Ho, a former North Korean diplomat in London who was elected to South Korea’s parliament in 2020. He has been critical of Kim Jong-Un’s rule, likening the country to a large prison.

At the same time, dissatisfaction with North Korea’s economic and political system is the main reason why people flee the country, the defectors themselves state in surveys from 2021 and 2022. In the past, the lack of food has been the main reason.

South Korea has a long tradition of accepting refugees from the North. So far, the authority in the capital Seoul has received more than 34,000 defectors, writes The Korea Times.