N Korea escapes slashed under Kim Jong-Un amid crackdown on defections

The number of people escaping from North Korea has halved since Kim Jong-Un came to power, amid a crackdown on defections. An increase in phone bugging and ramped-up border security has led to a sharp decline in the number of refugees fleeing the repressive communist country, experts say. The increased risks have led brokers, who organise escapes, to double their charges to about $8,000 per person, which is beyond the reach of most North Koreans.

Compared to 10 years ago the primary motivation for defection has gone from food, to freedom.

Sokeel Park of Liberty in North Korea

Those who make the illegal crossing risk being shot, or repatriated and possibly tortured, according to a United Nations report published last year. South Korean government data shows the annual number of defections rose steadily from the late 1990s when a devastating famine led starving North Koreans to flee into China in search of food. It peaked in 2009, when 2,914 North Koreans arrived in the South - the biggest influx since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. But in Kim’s first year in power in 2012, just 1,502 North Koreans made it to the South - a 44% drop on the previous year. Last year, the number fell further to 1,396.

Intelligence has stepped up monitoring (of phone calls) on border passages, dampening brokers’ activities. Many connections with brokers, which North Koreans call ‘lines’, have been lost.

Han Dong-ho, Korea Institute for National Unification

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