Korea: October 5, 2003

Archives

The South Korean government reported that, in the last fifty years, only 3,834 North Koreans have made it to South Korea. And 77 percent of those have arrived in the last five years.  It's expected that 1,200 will make it this year. But during that period, it's estimated that some 300,000 North Koreans have escaped to China, and a much smaller number to Russia. The border between north and south Korea, the DMZ (demilitarized zone) is a five kilometer wide minefield covered by observers armed with machine-guns and artillery. Very few northerners have made it through the DMZ. A few have made it down the coast in boats, but the North Korean coats swarm with small patrol boats.

 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contributions. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   Contribute   Close