378 N. Korean defectors under protection of S. Korea's overseas missions

SEOUL, Sept. 19 (Yonhap) -- A total of 378 North Korean defectors have been placed under the protection of South Korean diplomatic missions overseas and are waiting to be sent to the South, the foreign ministry said Monday. More than 21,000 North Koreans have fled their impoverished, communist country since the 1950-53 Korean War, with defections surging in recent years amid chronic food shortages and harsh political oppression. Tens of thousands of North Korean defectors are believed to be hiding in China, a major land route through which many North Koreans travel to Thailand and other nearby nations before resettling in South Korea. "As of the end of July, a total of 378 North Korean defectors are under the protection of overseas missions and the ministry is working with relevant nations and international organizations to swiftly transfer them to South Korea," the ministry said in a report to the National Assembly. The number of defectors arriving in South Korea via its diplomatic missions totaled 2,423 last year, 2,927 in 2009, 2,089 in 2008, 2,544 in 2007 and 2,018 in 2006, according to the report. From January to August this year, 1,797 defectors arrived in the South via the diplomatic missions, it said. South Korea has a long-standing policy to accept any North Korean defectors who want to live in the South.