North Korean defectors are increasingly fleeing to the South for non-economic reasons, such as a discontent with the regime, a desire for personal freedom and increasing censorship, the South Korean Ministry of Unification (MoU) has said.

The MoU report, which was provided to local media in late August, studied trends in recent defections based on a survey of 859 defectors at Hanawon centers, responsible for handling defector arrivals after screening by the National Intelligence Service (NIS), from 2015 to the first half of 2016.

Economic difficulty and hunger were cited as the first and main cause of defection