The number of North Korean defectors coming to South Korea is expected to surpass ten-thousand around the end of this year.

The Unification Ministry in Seoul and civic groups on Sunday said some 91-hundred North Koreans have arrived in South Korea as of September and that several hundred more did so last month.

The number is likely to top ten-thousand by the end of the year, as about seven-hundred more are seeking asylum at South Korean missions in Thailand, Mongolia and China.

North Koreans' attempts to escape their country will likely continue as the U.N. Security Council resolution against the North's nuclear test has worsened the nation's food shortage.