Flow of N. Korean defectors slows in 2008 due to China's border control

SEOUL, Jan. 5 (Yonhap) -- About 2,800 North Korean defectors entered South Korea
in 2008, the Unification Ministry said on Monday, reflecting a slowdown that was
partly caused by tightened border controls in China.
A total of 2,809 defectors settled in the South the past year, up 10 percent from
a year earlier. The increase was 26 percent and 46 percent in 2007 and 2006,
respectively, according to ministry data.
China tightened control of its border with North Korea in and around the Summer
Olympics, prompting a sharp drop in the number of the North Koreans successively
making it out of the country in the latter half of the year.
Beijing sees North Korean defectors as illegal migrants who enter the country for
food or smuggling trade and says it is bound by official policy to send them back
to the North.
"The slowdown was possibly affected by China's domestic and foreign policy among
many other reasons," a Unification Ministry official said, requesting anonymity.
During the first half of 2008, about 1,700 North Korean defectors entered the
South, up 42 percent from the same period the year earlier. The number fell to
around 1,100 during the second half.
A total of 15,057 North Korean defectors have arrived in the South since the end
of the 1950-53 Korean War, a large number of which came starting in the late
1990s, according to ministry data.
In 1993, a total of 34 North Korean defectors settled in South Korea. The figure
shot up to 306 in 1998. In 2006, a total of 2,018 North Korean defectors arrived,
with 2,544 in 2007.
Seoul's Lee Myung-bak government has sought to tackle North Korea's human rights
issues more directly and bring in more defectors.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)