A defector who almost faced repatriation back to North Korea finally received asylum as a refugee for a period of one year after submitting four applications to Moscow’s immigration office, a Russia based civil organization reported on Thursday.

The defector known only as "Kim" arrived in Russia in late 2014, after escaping from North Korea in 1997. His applications on January 2014, November and December 2015 were dismissed. The Russian Federal Migration Service (FMS) said Kim’s life was not in danger should he return to North Korea.