Hello there, and welcome to Ask a North Korean: the feature where you email in with your questions and have them answered by our very own North Korean writers.

Today’s question comes from Nanda in Indonesia, who asks what reasons North Koreans may have for choosing to defect.

North Korea is notorious for its poor human rights record and food shortages, so the answer to this question may seem obvious. However, it’s still a country that millions of people call home, where their friends and families live, and the only place many have known their entire lives — not to mention that the consequences for being caught defecting can be extremely harsh.

Plus, why is it that the majority of defectors are women? What would drive someone from the ruling classes, who supposedly enjoys a high standard of living, to leave the country? And why do some decide to stay even though they have the means to go?

Tae-il Shim answers all these questions, and more, below.

Got a question for Tae-il? Email it to [email protected] with your name and city. We’ll be publishing the best ones.

There are currently around 35,000 North Korean refugees in South Korea at the moment. In China, there are around 100,000, and 15,000 others are spread across other countries like the U.S., Australia, the UK, Russia, and Japan.

People began leaving the country in the mid-1990s mainly because of hunger. I think that 80% of defections up until ten years ago were motivated by economic difficulties, but lately, the majority of those that decide to leave do so because they’re disenchanted by the current political situation.

Unlike in the past when you risked your life crossing the river, these days people follow a pre-determined route.

Many of those that leave today are the relatives of those who defected ten or twenty years ago. They have enough to live on, but they want to escape from the surveillance and suppression of the authorities.

Location-wise, most defectors come from the border regions along the Yalu and Tumen rivers, the poorest parts of North Korea.

Women account for 80% of the defector population. In my opinion, this is because the punishment for being caught is less harsh than for men. Men are subject to severe flogging when they’re caught engaging in unlawful (but essential for their survival) activities.

Women, though not totally exempt from the consequences, tend to be treated with a bit more leniency.

Another factor contributing to the high number of women defectors is their playing the main role of earning money at the Jangmadang (North Korea’s unofficial markets) to feed the family. I think these heavy responsibilities and hardships have likely led to more women being pushed across the border than men.

Though the majority of defectors are in their 20s and 30s, there are many exceptions: for example, one of the ladies that fled with me, Ms. Jung, was 76.

Her eldest daughter arrived in South Korea many years ago.

Her son, a friend of mine, spent time in prison for having assisted a defection. He developed tuberculosis while in the Gaechon reformatory and so was transported to the Chunae reformatory in Gangwon province, where such patients are segregated from others. He eventually died of hunger.

Jung Ok, Ms. Jung’s youngest daughter, was arrested and executed when she was caught contacting defectors in South Korea. Her daughter, Ms. Jung’s granddaughter, journeyed with us and made it to South Korea.

60-70% of defectors are from the very lowest classes of North Korean society. People from the middle classes account for around 30-40%. Less than 5% are from the upper classes.

Defectors like Hwang Jang-yop, the former Workers’ Party secretary, who defected to South Korea and died in 2010, and Thae Yong-ho, North Korea’s former deputy ambassador to the United Kingdom, were upper-class elites.

These people flee potential danger or imminent punishment for their hoarding of political funds or their children’s delinquencies. For them, defection is another way to advance their political and economic gains.

The defections of regular people, however, are noble struggles for their own lives, the lives of their families, the lives of those in their hometowns, and, eventually, the lives of everyone in the nation who are languishing in slavery.

An important factor in determining someone’s chances for defection, in my opinion, is whether they have a helping hand in getting out of the country.

Some people do have the means to leave but stay in North Korea regardless. Some waste their time aimlessly, indulging themselves in drugs.

Mr. Yee’s son is a case in point. He and his wife came to South Korea to join their eldest son. Their 29-year-old, the youngest son, is still in Hyesan.

Mr. Yee and his wife send him a monthly allowance, in the hope of getting him out to South Korea. But this has been to no avail. Their son is leading an expensive lifestyle in North Korea, idling his time away snorting drugs like a powerful Party cadre.

It is truly unfortunate that his life and his parents’ hard-earned money are being squandered in such a way. I think the root of all this lies in North Korea’s rotten political institution and incapable law enforcement.

You stand a reasonable chance of successfully defecting if you have maintained good relationships with previous defectors. I myself have not forgotten those who offered a helping hand to my children and myself during and after my time in prison.

Albeit a modest amount, I send money over to them as well as those incarcerated for unjust reasons with the hope that they too can make it to where I am in the near future.

Translated by Jihye Park

Edited by James Fretwell

Featured image: Morsky Studio