A record 64 North Korean defectors received financial rewards last year in exchange for providing valuable information about their former homeland, data from the unification ministry showed Sunday.

The figure, the highest since 2014, suggests that defection by elite North Koreans holding quality information, such as overseas-based diplomats, could have risen, as the total number of North Korean defectors came only to 67 last year amid pandemic border closures in the North.

A total of 398 million won (US$296,459) was paid to the 64 defectors as rewards for providing worthwhile information last year, according to the ministry data submitted to Rep. Kim Sang-hee of the main opposition Democratic Party.

The biggest reward was 148 million won while the lowest was 3 million won.

Such rewards are separate from housing and other subsidies that all North Korean defectors receive upon arrival in South Korea.

This year alone, a total of 15 North Korean defectors received 163 million won in such rewards.

Source: Yonhap News Agency