South Korea recorded 63 defections from North Korea in the first half of 2026, over a third fewer than a year earlier, the Unification Ministry said. Experts say Kim Jong Un’s tighter border controls are making escapes increasingly difficult.
Defections peaked at more than 2,900 in 2009 and stayed above 1,000 a year for the next decade. After Kim took power in 2011, he began restricting informal trade and migration along the 1,415-kilometre border with China; North Korea has erected fences and cameras and laid sand strips to reveal footprints. A Stimson Center researcher said China has reportedly added hundreds of facial-recognition cameras, more patrol boats and new or planned deportation facilities on its northeastern frontier.
Chae Yoon-seo, who escaped in 2019, told AFP that bringing family members directly from North Korea is, in her understanding, “currently impossible”; she reached South Korea after crossing into China and travelling through Laos, Vietnam and Thailand. A Seoul university lecturer said defectors are the main source of information about North Korea for intelligence officials and researchers.
