According to the Immigration Bureau, the number of North Koreans entering Thailand illegally has increased over the past decade. In early September, South Korea's Reunification Ministry said 894 North Korean defectors had managed to reach the South this year. Early this month, seven North Koreans who reached South Korea via Thailand brought to 30,000 the total number of defectors thought to have fled from North Korea to the South since records began. Figures for recent years are hard to come by, but the number of North Koreans who escaped through Thailand in 2010 was 2,482. In 2011, almost all North Koreans arriving in South Korea were sent from Thailand.

Source: Bangkok Post November 16, 2016 21:57 UTC