Tag: defector

defector

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From left, missionaries Kim Kook-kie, Kim Jung-wook and Choi Chun-gil are pictured in this undated file photo. [JOONGANG ILBO]

Seoul officially recognizes Pyongyang defector-turned-journalist as North detainee

Ham Jin-woo, a North Korean defector-turned-journalist who went missing in 2017 in border areas between North Korea and China, has been officially recognized by the government as one of seven South Koreans detained in the North.

2026.3.11

North Korean defector Park Eun-hee speaks at the College Freedom Forum hosted by Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, on April 8, 2024. [PARK EUN-HEE]

자유는 아름다운 부담… 자기결정권 탐구한 탈북자의 자서전

By the time North Korean defector Park Eun-hee decided to write her life story, she had already risked death once.

2026.2.1

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Defector reclaims agency, hails freedom as a beautiful burden in memoir

North Korean defector Park Eun-hee recalled her flight to freedom — and the pieces of her homeland that are still a part of her — as she hails the value of liberty in her self-published English autobiography.

2026.1.25

Paintings wishing for the reunification of the Korean Peninsula are on display on July 13, 2025, in Seoul at a culture event marking the North Korean Defectors' Day. [YONHAP]

224 North Korean defectors enter South last year, slightly down from 2024

A total of 224 North Korean defectors entered South Korea for resettlement last year, slightly down from the previous year, a Ministry of Unification official said Tuesday.

2026.1.20

A North Korean soldier stands outside a guard post near the border in Paju, Gyeonggi, on Oct. 16, 2024. [NEWS1]

North Korean soldier crosses MDL in 1st military defection under Lee administration

A North Korean soldier crossed the heavily fortified border into South Korea on foot on Oct. 19, and several armed North Korean troops breached the military demarcation line that same day in what appeared to be a tense pursuit.

2025.10.24

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young delivers a congratulatory message at the opening ceremony of a unification promotion center in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi on Sept. 15. [YONHAP]

Unification Ministry reviews changing South Korean term of North Korean defectors

The Unification Ministry said Tuesday it is considering changing the South Korean term for North Korean defectors, noting the word highlights their escape from the North and carries a negative connotation.

2025.9.16

North Korean residents are seen working on their farms, as observed from South Korea's city of Paju, Gyeonggi, on July 29. [YONHAP]

North Korean swims to South, second defection under Lee administration

A North Korean defected to South Korea across the West Sea late last month — the second defection under the Lee Jae Myung administration, following the case of a man who crossed the Military Demarcation Line on the central western front on July 3.

2025.8.7

Defector accused of giving North locations of others in South

Police are investigating a North Korean defector for allegedly sharing the locations of fellow defectors in South Korea with North Korean authorities.

2025.8.4

The area surrounding a loudspeaker used for anti-South Korea broadcasts in Kaepung County, North Hwanghae Province in North Korea is seen from the Odusan Unification Observatory in Paju, Gyeonggi, on July 29. [YONHAP]

Man who crossed DMZ in early July wants to defect, says South Korean intelligence source

A North Korean man who crossed the inter-Korean border earlier this month has expressed a clear intent to defect to the South, marking the first known case of a walk-in defection under the Lee Jae Myung administration.

2025.7.31

South Korean soldiers patrol along a barbed-wire fence inside the demilitarized zone in Yeoncheon County, Gyeonggi, near the midwestern front, on July 25, 2022. [YONHAP]

Presumed defector took methodical route through DMZ, military says

A North Korean man crossed into South Korea on Thursday in what appears to be a carefully planned defection, exploiting gaps in Pyongyang's ongoing construction aimed at severing inter-Korean links within the demilitarized zone.

2025.7.4