The number of North Koreans who defected to South Korea dropped to an 18-year low last year.

According to the Unification Ministry on Monday, the number of North Korean defectors who settled in the South totaled one-thousand-47 in 2019, with 202 of the defectors being male and 845 female.

The number of North Korean defectors had been on a steady rise since 2000, with the number peaking at two-thousand-914 in 2009, before starting to decline.

The annual number of defectors has ranged between one-thousand-100 and one-thousand-500 since Kim Jong-un took power in 2012. 

Increased inspections along the North Korea-China border, costs of defection, as well as the difficulties of settling in South Korea were cited as possible reasons behind the latest decline.