International / National Security

[ソウル １９日 ロイター] – South Korea’s intelligence agency, the National Intelligence Service, announced on the 19th that a North Korean defector who fled from North Korea earlier this month was the reason for the decision to escape because of the country’s strict new coronavirus restrictions.

According to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, a group of nearly 10 North Koreans crossed the Northern Limit Line in the Yellow Sea on the night of May 6 by boat.

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) told Reuters after confirming the Yonhap news report, “North Korean defectors testified that they ‘watched Korean TV before and longed for Korean society.’ became tougher and they were fed up with the North Korean regime.”

He declined to give a detailed explanation, citing concerns that the identity of the defector would be revealed and the safety of his family in North Korea would be compromised.

The number of North Korean defectors to South Korea has plummeted in recent years as North Korea tightened border controls during the coronavirus epidemic. According to South Korea’s Unification Ministry, there were 1,047 cases in 2019 before the pandemic, but just 67 last year.