The United Nations Security Council has been meeting about North Korea following that country’s launch of a ballistic missile that reached Japanese waters. While most headlines about North Korea involve missiles and government rhetoric, there’s also news this week about defectors. HPR’s Bill Dorman has it in today’s Asia Minute.
South Korea’s government reports the number of North Korean defectors is rising sharply compared to a year ago. The Seoul Government has a cabinet level “Ministry of Unification”---which tracks these numbers closely.
The Ministry says that through July, defectors are up more than 15% from a year ago, totaling 815 so far this year, or about 4 a day. These numbers do fluctuate---although they started to drop when Kim Jong-un took power in 2012. Seven years ago, an average of about 8 North Koreans a day defected, last year that figure was down to a little more than 3 a day.
The Korea Times spoke with the director of the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, who says the number of North Korean defectors describing themselves as “upper middle class” has been increasing for several years. He says that may reflect a growing dissatisfaction with North Korea’s regime because of social and political instability.
Defections of North Koreans working in or visiting other countries are also increasing. Last month, an 18-year-old student sought refuge at the South Korean Consulate in Hong Kong after winning a silver medal at the International Mathematical Olympiad. It was the first case of a North Korean defection in Hong Kong in 20 years.
