Diplomat Defector Says More Overseas North Koreans Want to Defect

I think the fact that President Yoon is in power instead of the prior left wing administration has more to do with the increase in defections than COVID lockdowns:

Scores of North Koreans staying abroad, such as diplomats and overseas workers, have attempted to defect to South Korea since North Korea began undoing its COVID-19 border closure last year, a former North Korean diplomat said Tuesday.

Ri Il-gyu, a former counselor of political affairs at the North Korean embassy in Cuba, said there have been more successful defections, but many people were also brutally brought back to North Korea, citing the example of a North Korean woman and her son who were caught during their botched attempt to flee Russia.

“As signs of North Korea’s border reopening were detected from March and April last year, many thought it was time to decide whether to return (to the North) or flee it,” Ri said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency, eight months after defecting to South Korea with his family.

South Korea’s unification ministry said the number of North Korean defectors coming to South Korea reached 196 in 2023, and among them, the number of people with so-called elite backgrounds, such as diplomatic and trade officials, came to around 10, the highest since 2017.

Yonhap

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