Although the punishments for illegally leaving North Korea are extremely harsh, the number who try to leave the country is still somewhat high. This is because North Koreans are so poor and have so little freedom that defectors believe finding a better life in a new country is worth risking their lives for it. Since the North Korean famine in the 1990s, more than 30,000 North Koreans have successfully left and have come to South Korea. Some sources say that somewhere between 100,000 to 300,000 North Koreans escaped into Russia or China since 1953. Of the defectors who came to South Korea, more than 70% are women. 