Over 500 North Koreans defect to South in 2019

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) - Over 500 North Koreans have fled to the South so far this year, South Korean media reports said Tuesday.

The South Korean Unification Ministry, which deals with inter-Korean affairs, said 546 people from North Korea registered with authorities in Seoul in the first six months of 2019, up from 487 recorded in the same period last year, Yonhap news agency reported.

Wracked by food shortages, North Koreans have long blamed their authoritarian government for harsh living conditions in the communist country. South Korea has been shipping rice aid to Pyongyang.

South Korean officials noted that the annual number of defectors surged to 2,914 in 2009 with figures remaining in the 1,000-1,500 range since Kim Jong-un over took power in late 2011.

Nearly 32,000 North Korean defectors currently live in South Korea.

The Korean peninsula has remained divided since the 1950-1953 Korean War when the North sided with the then-USSR and the South sought help from the U.S.-led western bloc. Currently, 28,000 U.S. forces are stationed in South Korea.

North Korean defectors have enjoyed wide-ranging support and affection in the South with authorities in Seoul announcing further increases in state subsidies to help their settlement from 7 to 8 million won ($6,884), starting mid-July.

Meanwhile, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Tuesday that Pyongyang and Washington "effectively declared an end to their hostile relations" with a landmark weekend meeting between the two leaders at the inter-Korean border.

U.S. President Donald Trump met Kim at the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone on Sunday, crossing into North Korean territory holding Kim’s hand. Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to take the unprecedented step.

Moon told the cabinet today that though the Trump and Kim did not sign a document of agreement, "their action was tantamount to a de facto declaration of an end to hostile relations and the beginning of a full-fledged peace era."

Since the 1953 armistice the two Koreas have remained technically at war, as a formal peace treaty has yet to be signed.