Key Takeaways

• According to South Korea’s Unification Ministry, the number of North Korean defectors who crossed over to the South in 2011, 2015, 2020, and 2021 are 2,706, 1,275, 229, and 63 respectively. The ministry thinks that only 19 North Koreans will be able to defect to South Korea by the end of 2022.
• A possible reason for the reducing numbers is the reign of Kim Jong Un who Reuters reports has been heavily cracking down on attempted defection since coming into power in 2011. Under his rule, North Korea has come under increased controls while on its flank, China has been “pressed to tighten measures”.
• According to a 2018 article by Business Insider, approximately 100,000 North Koreans are reportedly held in detention centers, labor camps, and political prisons. While not definitively stated, some of these could be attempted defections. The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea believes that about 80,000 to 120,000 North Koreans may be detained in these centers.
• North Korean defector Lee Young-joo recounts how after an unsuccessful escape in 2007, she was forced to crawl into her cell at Onsong Detention Center, where she was ordered to sit cross-legged, placing her hands over her knees daily for up to 12 hours a day.

Introduction

Number of North Korean Defectors

• According to South Korea’s Unification Ministry, the number of North Korean defectors who crossed over to the South in 2011, 2015, 2020, and 2021 are 2,706, 1,275, 229, and 63 respectively. The ministry thinks that only 19 North Koreans will be able to defect to South Korea by the end of 2022. The image below shows the number of defectors since 1998.

 

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• The Center for Strategic International Studies (CSIS) states that since 2006, only 220 North Korean defectors have been resettled in the country. Between 2017 and 2020, only 20 defectors have been resettled in America.

• A possible reason for the reducing numbers is the reign of Kim Jong Un who Reuters reports has been heavily cracking down on attempted defection since coming into power in 2011. Under his rule, North Korea has come under increased controls while on its flank, China has been “pressed to tighten measures”.

• Kang Dong-wan, the head of a defector resettlement program in South Korea says, “Over the past year, more cameras and updated guard posts have been seen at the border. Kim Jong Un’s policy itself is tightening its grip on defection. Such changes led to stronger crackdowns in China as well.”

• Reuters also reports that the COVID-19 pandemic intricately frustrated defection plans since 2020. At the time of the article’s publication, only 2 North Korean defectors had made it to South Korea between April and June 2021. With activists stating that usually “several hundred” arrive in a typical quarter, this was “the fewest ever in a single quarter”.  

• CSIS shares this sentiment, noting that the “most immediate cause” for the declining number of North Korean defectors is the tighter border control enforced to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus. “This border closure was so strictly enforced that North Korean border guards were directed not to allow North Korean citizens who had illegally crossed into China to be repatriated to the North by Chinese border guards,” Ambassador Robert King narrates in the report.

• Another report by Reuters explains the reducing number of North Koreans to China. According to Kim Seung-eun, a pastor at Seoul’s Caleb Mission Church, which aids North Korean defectors, China cracked down hard on defectors in 2019 because it did not want a repeat of the past, where reportedly about 500,000 North Koreans defected to China in the 90s. “A lot of these arrests have to do with China wanting to prevent this again,” he says.

• CSIS also contends that the rate of defection among North Koreans is declining because of smear campaigns by Supreme leader Kim Jung Un. The report states that his leadership has been keen on besmirching life in South Korea for defectors. “High-profile media events involving defectors who returned from the South focused on how difficult life was, and how welcome they were when they returned to the North. The media attention given to the experiences of these “re-defectors” in South Korea has been used to discourage migration to the South,” CSIS asserts.
• CNN, reporting on a case of a defector who voluntarily repatriated himself to the North, states, “But defectors and advocates say even if the man’s rationale for leaving South Korea is unclear, the fact that some North Korean defectors are willing to return to one of the world’s most politically isolated countries only highlights how challenging life can be in the South for North Koreans.”

• Additionally, CSIS asserts that the cutting back of South Korea on its support of North Korean defectors could be another reason for the decline of defectors. President Moon Jae-in is said to seek to repair relations with the North, with CSIS estimating that aid for defectors has been reduced by a whole 31% while investments into “inter-Korean cooperation projects with Pyongyang” has been increasing.

Number of Attempted Escapes

• According to a 2018 article by Business Insider, approximately 100,000 North Koreans are reportedly held in detention centers, labor camps, and political prisons. While not definitively stated, some of these could be attempted defections. The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea believes that about 80,000 to 120,000 North Koreans may be detained in these centers.

• A 2019 report by Reuters found that by April that year, about 30 defectors had been arrested in China.

• A 2017 Global News article believes that about 1,000 North Koreans attempt to defect every year.

The Fate of Unsuccessful Defectors

• BBC details the harrowing conditions that unsuccessful defectors faced when caught by North Korean authorities. Relaying her experience, Lee Young-joo recounts how after an unsuccessful escape in 2007, she was forced to crawl into her cell at Onsong Detention Center, where she was ordered to sit cross-legged, placing her hands over her knees daily for up to 12 hours a day. “A slight shuffle or a hushed whisper to her cellmates would be harshly punished,” BBC states. Below, we offer a 3D rendition of the conditions at the Onsong Detention Center created by BBC.

 

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• The prison guards would also reportedly beat prisoners as they crawled along the corridors of the prisons. In addition to the long hours of posed sitting, Young-joo recounted how she would endure hours of interrogation. When her plans to attempt defection were overheard, she narrates how the guards beat her hands until they were “bloated and blue.” (This and stories from 200 North Korean defectors are being compiled by Korea Future to detail the violations being perpetrated by North Korea’s prison system. “The evidence has been gathered and put in a database in the hope that one day those responsible can be brought to justice,” BBC reports).

• The article by BBC also adds that there have been allegations of rape and sexual assault. An interviewee of the Korea Future project witnessed a fellow inmate forced to abort her pregnancy at 8 months and while the child survived the abortion attempt, it was reportedly “drowned in a basin of water."

• “The pattern of violence within the system is repeated in testimony after testimony and prison after prison,” BBC writes. This is corroborated by Scott Kim’s experience in a 2018 interview with Business Insider. He was captured the first 3 times he attempted to defect and the treatment got worse with every failed defection. "When we reached the detention center in North Korea, we lost all our rights as human beings. We were treated like animals, literally. We had to crawl on the floor to move from place to place," he recounts.

Research Strategy

Key Takeaways

•  The packages that are sent across the border to North Korea typically include items such as pro-democracy materials (e.g. leaflets criticizing the North Korean regime) and USB drives filled with movies, news, and books.
• Fighters for a Free North Korea is an organization founded by Park Sang-Hak. Over the years, Park has sent balloons with leaflets containing criticism of the Kim family; the actions taken by him and like-minded activists have not gone unnoticed on either side of the border.
• On July 2022, as North Korea battles the new wave of coronavirus infections, North Korea has made comments through its state-run media insinuating that South Korean activists are at fault for the coronavirus outbreak that's devastating the country. According to North Korea, the country's first COVID-19 outbreak began after patients had touched "alien things near the border with South Korea".

Introduction

Packages

• The content of the packages that are sent across the border to North Korea typically includes items such as pro-democracy materials (e.g. leaflets criticizing the North Korean regime) and USB drives filled with movies, news, and books.
• Food is also a common item that's typically included in a package sent across the border; in 2014, for example, 200 activists released 50 helium balloons carrying 10,000 Choco Pies from the border city of Paju, South Korea.
• Because the country is currently battling a coronavirus outbreak, some activists from South Korea have begun sending over assistance in the form of packages that contain COVID-19 relief items such as masks, medicine (Tylenol capsules), and supplements (e.g. Vitamin C tablets).
• Other items that can be found in packages sent over to North Korea include DVDs and transistor radios.

The Process

 

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• The hydrogen-filled (or helium-filled) balloons leveraged by activists are typically translucent 36-foot-long balloons; the balloons typically have pro-democracy messages written on them in the Korean alphabet.
• The process of how packages get sent to North Korea is as follows:
• 1) The balloons are launched from a city close to the border, such as Paju, South Korea.
• 2) The balloons will then rise and drift toward North Korea; balloons that are launched under favorable wind conditions are able to penetrate deep into North Korea. Some are even able to reach as far as Pyongyang, about 125 miles from the border.
• 3) Once the balloons have traveled far enough north, a small timer will break open the plastic bags, subsequently showering the contents of the packages over the countryside.
• According to Park Sang-Hak, a North Korean defector who has since become an activist, launching 10 balloons costs $5,000. 

Issues Faced by Activists

• Fighters for a Free North Korea is an organization founded by Park. Over the years, Park has sent balloons with leaflets containing criticism of the Kim family; the actions taken by him and like-minded activists have not gone unnoticed on either side of the border.
• Since 2020, the South Korean government has prohibited the distribution of leaflets across the border; those who fail to comply may be sentenced to a maximum prison term of three years or receive fines up to $27,400.
• The North Korean government is upset over the activism and has issued several warnings toward Park. The North Korean government has also made claims that the packages sent over to North Korea had led to the country's recent COVID-19 outbreak.
• Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, has stated that the country will respond by "wiping out the South Korean authorities" if "rubbish" continued to be flown from South Korea." Days after Yo Jong had made the aforementioned comments, a man attacked Park with a steel pipe at a rally in Seoul, breaking his arm.
• This was not the first time that Park's life has been at risk as a result of his activism. In 2011, for example, Park was a target of a failed assassination attempt. South Korean authorities had thwarted and arrested a North Korean agent who had made an attempt on Park's life using a pen equipped with a poisoned needle.

"Alien Things"

• On July 2022, North Korea made comments through its state-run media insinuating that South Korean activists are at fault for the coronavirus outbreak that's devastating the country. North Korea alleged that the country's first COVID-19 outbreak began after patients had touched "alien things near the border with South Korea".
• Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) proceeded to announce that its citizens should "vigilantly deal with alien things coming by wind and other climate phenomena and balloons in the areas along the demarcation line and borders."
• South Korea's unification ministry, responsible for handling inter-Korean affairs, publicly stated that there was "no possibility" of the coronavirus entering North Korea through leaflets that were sent across the border.
• Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, made the following comment — "It's hard to believe North Korea's claim, scientifically speaking, given that the possibility of the virus spreading through objects is quite low."

Research Strategy