Fifty-five North Korean escapees arrived in South Korea between September and December last year, according to Seoul, bringing the total number of new arrivals in 2024 to 236.

As throughout the year, the vast majority of those who resettled in the South in the fourth quarter were women, with 51 versus just 14 men, unification ministry data released Tuesday shows.

While North Korean defector numbers have stabilized and recovered somewhat from the all-time low of 63 in 2021, they remain far below the pre-pandemic figure of over 1,000 escapees in 2019 and the record high of nearly 3,000 in 2009.