Tighter border controls and higher rates by smugglers are key factors, a South Korean MP says.
The number of North Korean defectors to South Korea has fallen since Kim Jong-un came to power seven years ago, a South Korean lawmaker has said.
Park Byeong-seug, citing data from the South’s unification ministry, said there had been 1,127 defections last year – compared with 2,706 in 2011.
Mr Park said tighter border controls between North Korea and China and higher rates charged by people smugglers were key factors.
Pyongyang has made no public comments.
The vast majority of defectors from the North are eventually offered South Korean citizenship.
Seoul says more than 30,000 North Koreans have illegally crossed the border since the end of the Korean War in 1953.
Most flee via China, which has the longest border with North Korea and is easier to cross than the heavily protected Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas.
