The number of North Koreans who successfully reached South Korea in 2018 increased compared to the previous year, according to new provisional data released by Seoul's Ministry of Unification (MOU) Wednesday.

Following numbers in the first half of 2018 that suggested fewer than 1000 defectors may arrive in the South in a calendar year for the first time in decades, the data now shows that 1137 individuals made it to the ROK last year after having escaped from North Korea.