The number of North Koreans who have defected to the South has been estimated to exceed one-thousand this year for the fourth straight year.

According to the Unification Ministry Saturday, a total of one-thousand-217 North Koreans had arrived in the South as of the end of last month.

The number of North Korean asylum seekers averaged only about six hundred annually up until 1989, but the number has steadily gone up since then to reach nearly one thousand-300 last year.

The ministry added that a total of seven-thousand-521 North Koreans had sought refuge in the South since the division of the two Koreas.

Since 1996, Seoul has provided a total of 76 billion won to help the North Korean defectors resettle in the South.