North Korean flees country by sea to reach South

A man managed to flee his country by swimming on Thursday to seek refuge in the South. Escapes have resumed at a very high rate, with three times as many cases in 2023 as in 2022.

Most of the time, North Koreans fleeing dictatorship and poverty travel clandestinely by land, to China and then Thailand. But this time, this man, who has not yet given all the details of his journey, threw himself into the water on Thursday, August 8, 2024, in the arm of the Yellow Sea that separates the north and south of the peninsula. He was picked up early in the morning on a South Korean islet less than five kilometers from his starting point.

There are several reasons for this defection. First, for several months, South Korean activists have been sending countless balloons loaded with anti-Kim Jong-un leaflets to the North to enlighten North Koreans about the situation in their country. There are also USB sticks with K-pop and TV series. For some analysts, this may have triggered a reaction in some people and encouraged them to take the step of exile. Furthermore, North Korea has just suffered torrential rains, the worst ever seen in 30 years, floods are said to have caused 1,500 deaths and considerable damage. It is possible that some have taken advantage of the confusion. In any case, escapes have resumed at a very high rate: 196 cases in 2023, three times more than in 2022, mainly diplomats and students.

The defection comes at a time when relations between the two countries are at their lowest. Each has its own balloons: North Korea is sending thousands of balloons loaded with garbage and animal excrement.

These balloon launches so annoyed Seoul that in retaliation, in early June, the South Korean authorities completely buried the military détente agreement that had linked the two neighbors since 2018. That finally opened Pandora’s box. Pyongyang is now strengthening its military capabilities near the border. 250 new-generation tactical missile launchers have just been transferred there. During a major ceremony, Kim Jong-un even claimed to have “personally designed“Normally, Pyongyang does not give figures on this kind of deployment, but the North Korean dictator is clearly engaged in a new phase of deterrence strategy against his enemies.

On Sunday, Kim Jong-un denounced “the transformation of American-led alliances into military blocs based on nuclear weapons“, enough to justify the deployment of its own arsenal. Moreover, it is not impossible according to Seoul that Pyongyang will carry out a new nuclear test just before or just after the American presidential election on November 5, 2024, in order to put pressure on the next tenant of the White House. The last nuclear test dates back to 2017.