A pastor from South Korea has risked his life to save thousands from working in China's sex trade, earning him the title of the "Asian Schindler."

Pastor Chun Ki-won is the president of Durihana, and a former businessman responsible for rescuing slaves in the multimillion-dollar cybersex industry, The Christian Post reports.

A growing amount of women are leaving North Korea and defecting to the South. A number of these women are forced into human trafficking in China and other Asian nations.

Since 1998, South Korea says that it has received more than 32,000 defectors. Last year, 85 per cent of defectors they received were women.

Ki-Won says that a significantly high number of defectors to China are brought through human trafficking means. High demand for women in China, the pastor says, means people are willing to pay border authorities for women to illegally cross.

"The North Koreans know that they're being sold when they escape, so they naturally fall into human trafficking."

Durihana, the pastor's Christian aid organization, has assisted over a thousand defectors to Seoul in the past 20 years. It is their goal to use the Gospel to bring North and South Korea back together.

Ki-Won began the company in 1999 after he came across the frozen corpse of a North Korea woman who had been trying to escape by crossing the river between North Korea and China. The traumatic experience led Ki-Won to seminary, away from his business career, where he became a pastor and dedicated his life to sharing the love and news of Christ to those in North Korea.

The pastor regularly risks his life-saving defectors and was arrested in 2001 at the border of China and Mongolia while helping a group of North Koreans defect. He spent nine months in a prison in China, eventually being released.

Still, the pastor continued on. His nickname, the "Asian Schindler," pays homage to Oskar Schindler, who was a German factory owner and member of the Nazi Party during the Second World War. He was responsible for saving the lives of over 1,000 Jews during the Holocaust.

As time and technology continue to advance, rescues become more dangerous, says Ki-Won, who has also had a target placed on him by North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

"North Korea announces that they'll kill me once or twice a year," the pastor explained, also noting China's desire to capture him.

But the Asian Schindler continues to hold tight to his faith and his calling and refuses to be intimidated. He says he will continue to rescue those trapped by human trafficking to lead them to "the redemption that is in Christ Jesus and to compassionately serve and strengthen them as they rebuild their lives."