KIM THE SPIN DOCTOR

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Exactly why Kim has taken a different view of defectors is unclear.

Several defectors told Reuters they believed he was trying to put his own spin on the issue because of the growing influence of an increasingly vocal exile community in the South.

The move also comes as pressure over human rights is mounting on Pyongyang with the recent appointment of members to a U.N. commission that will spend a year investigating possible crimes against humanity in North Korea.

Defectors will testify at unprecedented public hearings in Seoul this week as part of that investigation.

Better communications have also opened the way for regular contact between defectors and their families in North Korea - allowing stories of life outside one of the world's most isolated countries to seep back.

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For example, defector groups in Seoul estimate that 3,000 phone calls are made each day to the North, routed through Chinese mobile networks along the 1,400 km (870 mile) long land border that China shares with North Korea.

An estimated 70 percent of defectors in South Korea also send cash back to family via Chinese brokers along the border, according to a South Korean research institute.

While the younger Kim - who took power following the death of his father Kim Jong-il in late 2011 - has promised no retribution for returning defectors, he has tightened security at the Tumen and Yalu Rivers along the border with China, experts said.

Last year, the number of defectors entering South Korea fell 44 percent to 1,509 from 2,706 in 2011, South Korean government data shows. In 2010, 2,402 defectors arrived and 2,900 in 2009.

During the first quarter of this year, the monthly average of new defectors was down 15 percent from the previous year.