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 | | Thursday, 3 January, 2002, 13:12 GMT 'Record numbers' defect to S Korea  North Korea has had decades of self-imposed isolation A record number of people from communist North Korea defected to the South over the past year according to the South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS). The NIS says the number of defectors arriving in South Korea via a third country - usually interpreted as meaning China - has doubled year-on-year since 1999.
North Korea has been stricken by grave food-shortages over the last six years. A new report by the South Korean Unification Ministry says without massive financial assistance, the North Korean economy is likely to hover around the zero-growth to low-growth margin at best this year. Last month, Unification Minister Hong Soon-young said the South would donate 100,000 tonnes of corn to North Korea through the United Nations World Food Programme. North and South Korea have been divided since 1945. In 1950 the two countries went to war in what was to be a bloody three-year conflict. Technically, they remain at war although a ceasefire agreement ended fighting in 1953. Their border is the most heavily militarised zone in the world and the US keeps about 37,000 troops stationed in the South as a deterrent to the North. About 1,600 North Korean are thought to have defected to the South since 1953. | | See also:  Internet links: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top Asia-Pacific stories now:  Links to more Asia-Pacific stories are at the foot of the page. | ||||
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