SEOUL, July 4 (Yonhap) -- The number of North Korean defectors to South Korea has exceeded 1,400 in the first six months of the year, up 14 percent compared to the same period last year, a government official here said Monday.

   The figure is the latest sign that a growing number of North Koreans are fleeing their impoverished communist homeland to seek a new life in the capitalist South.

   A total of 1,428 North Koreans arrived in South Korea between January and June, the official said, adding about 2,000 other North Koreans are likely to come to the South by the end of this year.

   She said more than half of those who arrived in the South earlier this year stayed in China for less than a year out of fear of being arrested by Chinese police.

   Previously, some North Koreans stayed in China for years before heading toward South Korea, but Chinese crackdowns on North Korean defectors prompted them to quickly leave for South Korea, according to the official.

   Tens of thousands of North Korean defectors are believed to be hiding in China, a major land route through which many North Koreans travel to Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries before resettling in South Korea.

   China regards North Koreans as economic migrants and repatriates them back to their homeland, where they could face harsh punishment and even execution.

   The flow of North Korean defectors prompted South Korea to build a new facility to accommodate North Koreans. South Korea is now home to more than 21,800 North Korean defectors.

   South Korea is scheduled to break ground for the resettlement center in Hwacheon, about 118 kilometers northeast of Seoul, on Thursday.

   The development comes weeks after a high-profile defection by nine North Koreans aboard two engineless boats via the tense western sea border.

   South Korea has suggested that it will not return the nine North Korean defectors to their homeland despite Pyongyang's warnings of damage to inter-Korean relations.

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