The number of defectors making it to the South Korea tripled last year to 196 said Seoul (File)
A North Korean has defected to the South across the de facto maritime border known as the Northern Limit Line, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported Thursday.
"1 N. Korean defects across maritime border in Yellow Sea: military," the agency said in a one-line report.
Tens of thousands of North Koreans have fled to South Korea since the peninsula was divided by war in the 1950s, with most going overland to neighbouring China first, then entering a third country such as Thailand before finally making it to the South.
The number of successful escapes dropped significantly from 2020 after the North sealed its borders -- purportedly with shoot-on-sight orders along the land frontier with China -- to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
But the number of defectors making it to the South tripled last year to 196, Seoul said in January, with more elite diplomats and students seeking to escape, up from 67 in 2022.
South Korean local media reported Thursday that two North Koreans attempted to defect to the South through the border island of Gyodong, less than five kilometres (3.1 miles) from North Korea, and the South Korean military has only secured one of them.
The report comes days after North Korean state media said the country had deployed 250 ballistic missile launchers to its southern border, with leader Kim Jong Un describing the weapons as a "powerful treasured sword" to defend its sovereignty.
Earlier this year, Pyongyang conducted live-fire artillery drills near South Korea's Yeonpyeong and another border island, prompting counter-drills, heightened security and evacuation orders for residents.
Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points in years, with the North ramping up weapons testing and bombarding the South with trash-carrying balloons.
South Korea has responded by resuming propaganda broadcasts along the border, suspending a tension-reducing military deal and restarting live-fire drills near the border.
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