Jenna Reynolds, 17, of Camp Humphreys, teaches English to North Korean defectors at the YMCA in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Sept. 22, 2024. (Luis Garcia/Stars and Stripes)
Thirteen fewer North Koreans defected across the southern border in 2025 than the year before for an annual tally of 223, according to recent data from South Korea’s Ministry of Unification.
Of those, 198 were women and 25 were men, a ministry spokeswoman told Stars and Stripes in a text message Wednesday.
Still, the number of defectors making their way to South Korea the past three years is about one-fifth of those who defected prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to numbers the spokeswoman provided. The pandemic lasted from March 2020 to May 2023, according to the World Health Organization.
Before the pandemic, more than 1,000 people defected from North Korea annually, according to the ministry’s statistics. Since then, an average of 200 have made their way south each year, the spokeswoman said.
“The most important factor is North Korea’s border shutdown” since the pandemic, Lim Jae-cheon, a professor of diplomacy studies at Korea University, said by text message Wednesday.
“Another factor appears to be China’s forcible repatriation of defectors to North Korea since 2023,” he said.
Since 1998, when the ministry began keeping count, 34,537 North Koreans have fled south — 24,944 women and 9,593 men.
“The government exercises stricter control over men,” Lim said. “For example, most of men in their 20s are serving in the military, and men in their 30s and 40s are bound to their work. It is known that when defectors stay in China, it is easier for women to find a job than men.”
The number of defectors is expected to remain steady under the current state of relations between North Korea and China, he said.
The Ministry of Unification operates 25 resettlement facilities, known as Hana Centers, to help defectors resettle in South Korea.
Immediate government support for a single defector includes about $1,020, plus another $1,090 for housing.
The ministry’s 2026 work plan includes promoting “the stable settlement of North Korean defectors as responsible members of society,” according to a Dec. 19 ministry press release.
