Recent from talks
North Korean defectors
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
North Korean defectors
People defect from North Korea for political, material, safety and personal reasons. Defectors flee to various countries, mainly South Korea. In South Korea, they are referred to by several terms, including "northern refugees" and "new settlers".
Towards the end of the North Korean famine of the 1990s, there was a steep increase in defections, eventually peaking in 2009. Since then, some of the main reasons for the falling number of defectors have been strict border patrols and inspections, forced deportations, the costs of defection, and the end of the mass famine that swept the country when Soviet aid ceased with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The most common strategy for defectors is to cross the China–North Korea border into the Chinese provinces of Jilin or Liaoning. About 76% to 84% of defectors interviewed in China or South Korea came from the North Korean provinces bordering China.
From China, defectors usually flee to a third country, due to China being a relatively close ally of North Korea. China is the most influential of North Korea's few economic partners, with the latter's situation as the target of decades of UN sanctions. China is also a continuous source of aid to North Korea. To avoid worsening the already tense relations with the Korean Peninsula, China refuses to grant North Korean defectors refugee status and considers them illegal economic migrants. Defectors caught in China are repatriated back to North Korea, where human rights groups say they often face torture, wrongful imprisonment, sexual violence, forced labor, and possible execution. Some defectors voluntarily return to North Korea.
Different terms, official and unofficial, refer to North Korean refugees. One such term in South Korea is "northern refugees" (탈북자; talbukja; t'albukcha or 탈북민; talbungmin; t'albungmin).
On 9 January 2005, the South Korean Ministry of Unification announced the use of saeteomin (새터민, "people of new land") instead of talbukja (탈북자, "people who fled the North"), a term about which North Korean officials expressed displeasure. A newer term is bukhanitaljumin (북한 이탈 주민; 北韓離脫住民), which has the more forceful meaning of "residents who renounced North Korea".
North Korean scholar Andrei Lankov has criticized the term "defectors", as most who flee North Korea are not political dissidents seeking asylum, but are instead primarily motivated by a desire to escape poverty.
In 2025, the South Korean government considered using the new expression bukhyangmin (북향민, 北鄕民), meaning "people whose hometowns are in the north", as the previous designation talbukmin was considered to have negative connotations. However, due to the difference in a homophonic Hanja (Chinese character), this expression could also be misinterpreted as "people heading northward" (北向民), i.e. someone who identifies with North Korean ideology.
In March 2026, the Ministry of Unification of South Korea officially adopted "North Korean-born citizens" as the formal English translation for North Korean defectors.
Hub AI
North Korean defectors AI simulator
(@North Korean defectors_simulator)
North Korean defectors
People defect from North Korea for political, material, safety and personal reasons. Defectors flee to various countries, mainly South Korea. In South Korea, they are referred to by several terms, including "northern refugees" and "new settlers".
Towards the end of the North Korean famine of the 1990s, there was a steep increase in defections, eventually peaking in 2009. Since then, some of the main reasons for the falling number of defectors have been strict border patrols and inspections, forced deportations, the costs of defection, and the end of the mass famine that swept the country when Soviet aid ceased with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The most common strategy for defectors is to cross the China–North Korea border into the Chinese provinces of Jilin or Liaoning. About 76% to 84% of defectors interviewed in China or South Korea came from the North Korean provinces bordering China.
From China, defectors usually flee to a third country, due to China being a relatively close ally of North Korea. China is the most influential of North Korea's few economic partners, with the latter's situation as the target of decades of UN sanctions. China is also a continuous source of aid to North Korea. To avoid worsening the already tense relations with the Korean Peninsula, China refuses to grant North Korean defectors refugee status and considers them illegal economic migrants. Defectors caught in China are repatriated back to North Korea, where human rights groups say they often face torture, wrongful imprisonment, sexual violence, forced labor, and possible execution. Some defectors voluntarily return to North Korea.
Different terms, official and unofficial, refer to North Korean refugees. One such term in South Korea is "northern refugees" (탈북자; talbukja; t'albukcha or 탈북민; talbungmin; t'albungmin).
On 9 January 2005, the South Korean Ministry of Unification announced the use of saeteomin (새터민, "people of new land") instead of talbukja (탈북자, "people who fled the North"), a term about which North Korean officials expressed displeasure. A newer term is bukhanitaljumin (북한 이탈 주민; 北韓離脫住民), which has the more forceful meaning of "residents who renounced North Korea".
North Korean scholar Andrei Lankov has criticized the term "defectors", as most who flee North Korea are not political dissidents seeking asylum, but are instead primarily motivated by a desire to escape poverty.
In 2025, the South Korean government considered using the new expression bukhyangmin (북향민, 北鄕民), meaning "people whose hometowns are in the north", as the previous designation talbukmin was considered to have negative connotations. However, due to the difference in a homophonic Hanja (Chinese character), this expression could also be misinterpreted as "people heading northward" (北向民), i.e. someone who identifies with North Korean ideology.
In March 2026, the Ministry of Unification of South Korea officially adopted "North Korean-born citizens" as the formal English translation for North Korean defectors.