Radio Free Asia says 320 North Koreans with refugee status live in five West European countries.

Citing data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the U.S.-run external station on Thursday said that as of December 2004, the majority of 276 lived in Germany, 17 in the United Kingdom, 15 in the Netherlands, seven in Denmark and five in Ireland.

Though no data exists on North Koreans who got refugee status from 1995 to 1999, the report said the number of refugees began to grow from 2002 after the Netherlands first released the data in 2001.