As more North Koreans get out, and make their way to South Korea (usually via China and a third country), more is learned about conditions in North Korea. Currently, it is believed that about 100,000 North Koreans are in northern China, hiding from Chinese police who are intent on sending them back. None want to go back, because it appears that the famine in the 1990s killed as many as three million people. Only about 6,000 have made it to South Korea, most in the past three years.