South Korean defectors

Both sides have recognized the propaganda value of defectors, even immediately after the Division of Korea in 1945. Since then, the number of defectors has been used by both the North and the South (see North Korean defectors) to try to prove the superiority of their respective political systems (the country of destination).[1]

North Korean propaganda has targeted South Korean soldiers patrolling the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).[2]

A total of 357 prisoners of war detained in North Korea after the Korean War chose to stay in North Korea rather than be repatriated home to the South. These included 333 South Koreans, 23 Americans, and one Briton. Eight South Koreans and two of the Americans later changed their mind.[1] However, the exact number of prisoners of war held by North Korea and China has been disputed since 1953, due to unaccounted South Korean soldiers. Several South Koreans defected to the North during the Cold War: In 1953, Kim Sung Bai, a captain in the South Korean air force, defected to North Korea with his F51 Mustang.[3] In 1985, Ra il Ryong, a South Korean private, defected to North Korea and requested asylum.[4] In 1988, a Korean employee at a U.S. army unit in South Korea defected to North Korea. His name was Son Chang-gu, a transport officer.[5]

During the Cold War, several U.S. Army servicemen defected to North Korea. One of them, Roy Chung, was born to South Korean immigrants. Unlike the others who defected across the DMZ, he defected by first crossing the border between West and East Germany in 1979.[1] His parents accused North Korea of abducting him. The United States was not interested in investigating the case, as he was not a "security risk", and in similar cases it was usually impossible to prove that a kidnapping had occurred. There were several other cases of South Koreans mysteriously disappearing and moving to North Korea at that time, including the case of a geology teacher from Seoul who disappeared in April 1979 while he was having a holiday in Norway. Some South Koreans also accused North Korea of attempting to kidnap them while staying abroad. These alleged kidnapping attempts occurred mainly in Europe, Japan or Hong Kong.[6]

There are people who have defected from North Korea to South Korea, and then have defected back to North Korea again. In the first half of 2012 alone, there were 100 cases of "double defectors" like this. Possible reasons for double defectors are the safety of remaining family members left behind, North Korea's promises of forgiveness and other attempts to lure the defectors back,[7] as well as widespread discrimination faced in South Korea.[8][9] 7.2% of the North Korean defectors living in South Korea are unemployed, which is twice the national average.[10] In 2013, there were 800 North Korean defectors unaccounted for out of 25,000 people. They might have gone to China or Southeast Asian countries on their way back to North Korea.[11] South Korea's Unification Ministry officially recognizes only 13 cases of double defectors as of 2014.[12]

South Korea's laws do not allow naturalized North Koreans to return. North Korea has accused South Korea of abducting and forcibly interning those who want to and has demanded that they be allowed to leave.[13][14][15]

North Korea has targeted its own defectors with propaganda in attempts to lure them back as double defectors,[7] but contemporary South Korean defectors born outside of North Korea are generally not welcome to defect to the North. In recent years there have been seven people who tried to leave South Korea, but they were detained for illegal entry in North Korea, and ultimately repatriated.[16][17][18] As of 2019, there are reportedly 5461 former South Korean citizens living in North Korea.[19]

There has also been fatalities as a result of failed defections. One defector died in a failed murder-suicide attempt by her husband while in detention.[18] One person who attempted to defect was shot and killed by South Korean military forces in September 2013.[20]

This is an incomplete list of notable cases of defections from South Korea to North Korea.

• 1986
  • Choe Deok-sin, a former South Korean Foreign Minister defected with his wife, Ryu Mi-yong, to North Korea.[21]
• 1998
  • Song Ki-chan, a South Korean fisherman from Incheon defected to North Korea. Song sailed his trawler to an unnamed port in the North.[22]
• 2004
  • A 33 year old South Korean soldier named Chen was arrested for violating the National Security Law by secretly crossing in to North Korea and providing information about the military unit he served in. Chen made it to Hoeryong in North Hamgyŏng Province of North Korea by crossing the Tumen River running through the Jilin province of China.[23] Deported by the North as an illegal entrant and repatriated to South Korea from China, Chen was suspected of providing military information to North Korea like the location of the air force fighter wing he served in and the location of anti-air batteries.
• 2005
  • A 57 year-old South Korean fisherman named Hwang Hong-ryon in the Hwangman-ho crossed the Northern Limit Line into North Korea whilst reportedly "dead drunk".[24] The South Korean navy fired some 20 warning shots from various arms, including a 60 mm mortar, but were unable to stop the ship.[25]
• 2009
  • 30 year old Kang Tong-rim cut a hole in the demilitarized zone fence and defected whilst reportedly wanted in South Korea. He was later deported back to the south. The hole was not found until over 24 hours later when South Korea was alerted through North Korean media.[17][26]
• 2019
  • Choe In-guk, the son of former South Korean Foreign Minister Choe Deok-sin, said he had decided to "permanently resettle" in North Korea to honour his parents' wish that he live there and devote himself to the unification of the Korean peninsula, according to North Korea’s state-controlled news website Uriminzokkiri.[27]
• 2022
  • An unidentified South Korean citizen had defected to North Korea at the start of January by crossing into the Demilitarized Zone.[28]

• Choe Deok-sin, a South Korean foreign minister
• Ryu Mi-yong, the chairwoman of Chondoist Chongu Party and wife of Choe
• Kim Bong-han, a North Korean researcher of acupuncture
• Oh Kil-nam, a South Korean economist who later defected back to the South
• Shin Suk-ja, the wife of Oh Kil-nam, who was held together with their daughters as prisoners of conscience
• Ri Sung-gi, a North Korean chemist known both for his invention of vinylon, and possible involvement in nuclear weapons research
• Roy Chung (born Chung Ryeu-sup), the fifth U.S. Army defector to the North

• Americans in North Korea
• List of Western Bloc defectors, for other South Korean defectors who are not listed here
• North Korean defectors

• Kim Yong-son (1989). A Young Man's Memoirs on his Escape from South Korea. Pyongyang: Foreign Languages Publishing House. OCLC 869091312.
• Takagi Takeo (1976). "From the South to the North". Kim Il Sung: Master of Leadership. Pyongyang: Foreign Languages Publishing House. pp. 37–58. OCLC 864246093.