South Korea says it will build a new resettlement center to handle the growing number of North Korean defectors and help them adjust to life in the capitalist country.

A spokesman for the Unification Ministry says the new facility will accommodate about 500 people at a time. She said ground-breaking will take place in town of Hwacheon on July 7, with completion set for late 2012.

The facility will complement the current resettlement center located in the city of Anseong, south of Seoul. New arrivals from North Korea spend three months at the center, learning such skills as how to open a bank account and use a credit card.

The spokeswoman said more than 2,000 North Korean defectors have arrived in the South every year since 2006. More than 21,700 North Koreans have fled the impoverished and repressive regime since the end of the Korean War in 1953.