Why is the preferred escape route of North Korean defectors, who have already crossed into China, via Laos? Wouldn't it be easier and safer via the long and much closer border with
![More than 1,000 North Koreans defect every year. It's dangerous but here's how they do it - National | Globalnews.ca More than 1,000 North Koreans defect every year. It's dangerous but here's how they do it - National | Globalnews.ca](https://globalnews.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/raw_2kyq_fleeing.jpg?quality=70&strip=all)
More than 1,000 North Koreans defect every year. It's dangerous but here's how they do it - National | Globalnews.ca
![Twenty Years' Evolution of North Korean Migration, 1994–2014: A Human Security Perspective - Song - 2015 - Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies - Wiley Online Library Twenty Years' Evolution of North Korean Migration, 1994–2014: A Human Security Perspective - Song - 2015 - Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies - Wiley Online Library](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/cms/asset/69170f29-9f82-4715-b6d1-a2e8ed2ce857/app582-fig-5001-m.jpg)