The United States allowed three North Korean escapees to seek asylum in America last year.

According to a report by the U.S. Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review, the United States allowed five North Korean escapees to defect to America in 2002. Last year, the United States accepted three out of nine North Korean candidates seeking asylum in America.

The United States has accepted 42 applications for political asylum from North Korean escapees in America since 1997, but has only officially approved of their defections beginning in 2002.