Sixty-three North Koreans defected to South Korea between January and June, a roughly 34% decline from the same period last year, the Unification Ministry said Thursday, reporting that all had gone through third countries rather than crossing directly.

The new arrivals included 59 women and four men, according to ministry data. The figure represents just 65.6% of the 96 defectors who arrived during the first six months of 2025, continuing a prolonged decline in defections since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The North Korean soldier who crossedthe heavily fortified inter-Korean border in June was not accounted for in the data released