Around 50 percent of North Korean defectors living in South Korea say they have experienced discrimination because of their background, a recent poll by a South Korean government-backed institute said on Tuesday.

The number of North Korean defectors in South Korea has more than tripled since 2006, the report said, creating a rising need to ensure more protection of defectors’ rights as prejudice and discrimination have increased.

“45.4 percent of defector respondents said they were discriminated against for their North Korean background,” the National Human Rights Commission of Korea’s (NHRCK) report said, adding it was the committee’s first time conducting