DOCSLIB.ORG

Strangers at Home: North Koreans in the South

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Strangers at Home: North Koreans in the South STRANGERS AT HOME: NORTH KOREANS IN THE SOUTH Asia Report N°208 – 14 July 2011 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...................................................................................................... i I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 1 II. CHANGING POLICIES TOWARDS DEFECTORS ................................................... 2 III. LESSONS FROM KOREAN HISTORY ........................................................................ 5 A. COLD WAR USES AND ABUSES .................................................................................................... 5 B. CHANGING GOVERNMENT ATTITUDES ......................................................................................... 8 C. A CHANGING NATION .................................................................................................................. 9 IV. THE PROBLEMS DEFECTORS FACE ...................................................................... 11 A. HEALTH ..................................................................................................................................... 11 1. Mental health ............................................................................................................................. 11 2. Physical health ........................................................................................................................... 12 B. LIVELIHOODS ............................................................................................................................. 14 1. Unemployment ........................................................................................................................... 14 2. Cultural barriers ......................................................................................................................... 16 3. Debts and money ........................................................................................................................ 16 C. DISCRIMINATION ....................................................................................................................... 17 1. Language .................................................................................................................................... 18 2. Visibility and prejudice .............................................................................................................. 19 D. WOMEN ..................................................................................................................................... 20 E. CHILDREN .................................................................................................................................. 21 V. HOW DEFECTORS JOIN A NEW SOCIETY ........................................................... 22 A. GOVERNMENT RESPONSES ......................................................................................................... 22 1. On arrival ................................................................................................................................... 22 2. Long-term support ..................................................................................................................... 23 3. The North Korean Refugees Foundation ................................................................................... 24 B. NON-GOVERNMENTAL RESPONSES ............................................................................................. 24 1. Local social welfare organisations ............................................................................................. 24 2. The Korean Red Cross ............................................................................................................... 25 3. NGOs ......................................................................................................................................... 25 4. Religious organisations .............................................................................................................. 25 5. Alternative schools ..................................................................................................................... 26 C. NEW GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND PRIVATE RESPONSES ........................................................... 27 VI. NEW INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVES .................................................................... 28 VII. CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................. 30 APPENDICES A. MAP OF THE KOREA PENINSULA ...................................................................................................... 31 B. STATISTICAL INFORMATION ............................................................................................................. 32 C. ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP .................................................................................... 35 D. CRISIS GROUP REPORTS AND BRIEFINGS ON ASIA SINCE 2008 ......................................................... 36 E. CRISIS GROUP BOARD OF TRUSTEES ................................................................................................ 38 Asia Report N°208 14 July 2011 STRANGERS AT HOME: NORTH KOREANS IN THE SOUTH EXECUTIVE SUMMARY As the number of defectors from North Korea arriving in works are essential for finding jobs. They also come from the South has surged in the past decade, there is a grow- a country where an all-powerful bureaucracy makes almost ing understanding of how difficult it would be to absorb a all decisions about their lives; there is almost no choice massive flow of refugees. South Korea is prosperous and in education, employment or even food. New arrivals de- generous, with a committed government and civil society, scribe a bewildering rush of modernity, consumption and and yet refugees from the North almost all fail to integrate choice that rapidly overwhelms them. They also complain or thrive. Part of this is the change in the people coming; of discrimination by Southerners, who have stereotyped it is no longer just senior officials and fighter pilots who them as heavy drinkers, prone to crime, shirking work and were useful and privileged propaganda tools. Nowadays relying on state handouts. many are women who have endured terrible deprivation in the North and abuse on their way to the South. Recon- Many arrive nowadays suffering from serious physical and figuring programs for defectors to take account of this mental health problems, resulting in part from poor diet and change is essential if new defectors are to find a place in trauma in the North and sometimes from abuse during their their new home. escape. South Korea is not well equipped to handle this: it has the highest suicide rate of wealthy countries and one The heart of the issue is humanitarian: those who arrive in of the poorest systems for providing mental health care. As the South are often fleeing material deprivation and politi- more vulnerable people have begun to arrive, not enough cal persecution and under South Korean law must be ac- has been done to accommodate their needs. cepted and helped. But as with all humanitarian issues, it is complicated by politics. Defectors have been used by The South Korean government has devoted significant re- both sides. The South once rewarded them with wealth sources to helping defectors, but its efforts have often lagged and public regard but that changed when rapprochement behind new developments. The lavish welcome defectors with the North began in the late 1990s. Defectors became received in the past has ended, and there is a more practi- something of an embarrassment, and policies to help them cal approach to education and integration, but as the arri- did not keep up with the numbers and types of people vals have soared, facilities have not kept up. Civil society, arriving. particularly religious groups, has stepped up to help, but relations with the government are often strained. Better As the difficulties of absorbing North Koreans become coordination of such efforts, improved oversight to deter- clear, the South is also wrestling with the possibility that mine what works and a more sensitive approach to discrimi- it one day might have to handle a vast outflow of refugees nation are all needed. from a collapsing North. The two sides of the Demilita- rised Zone have diverged so much in economics, politics, Critically, policy on defectors needs to be insulated both language and social organisation that the people are now from the occasional burst of belligerence from the North strangers to each other. South Korean law and opinion and from policy shifts in the South towards Pyongyang. from some quarters would likely demand a rapid unifica- What is clear is that the problems Northerners face on tion, but economic and social realities suggest such a move arrival take many years to resolve. What is needed is a long- could be catastrophic. The difficulties of handling just over term approach that allows a greater role for civil society 20,000 refugees over a few decades should be a warning and is less subject to change with each new government. to those who wish to encourage the collapse of the North rather than a more gentle integration. This report aims to draw attention to the challenges de- fectors have faced in integrating into the South, in the The divergences between North and South mean that de- hope that the many international actors
Load more

Recommended publications
  • South Korea and the Sino-US Institutional Rivalry: the Case of the AIIB
    South Korea and the Sino-US Institutional Rivalry: The case of the AIIB -Sino-US Institutional Rivalry and Korea’s Strategic Ambiguity- Minjeong Lee(Chung-Ang University) Abstract This paper explains how South Korea has responded to a dramatic change in security landscape in East Asia that the power competition between two great powers brought about. The U.S. provoked by rapidly rising China, has consistently pursued a policy of “rebalancing” in Asia. Faced with the U.S. provocation, China also has made determined effort to secure a sphere of influence in Asia. Against the backdrop of the power competition between the two great powers, East Asian countries have been required to take a side between the powers. The paper examines the choices that secondary East Asian states may make in order to maximize their national interests subject to the pressure from the two great powers with an emphasis on South Korea. Drawing on the concept strategic ambiguity, the paper claims that South Korea, one of the secondary states, has intentionally become very ambiguous regarding U.S. and China’s call for taking a side. Knowing that allying with either of the two powers will make it worse off by inviting the powers’ retaliatory measures, Korea has been “strategically” unclear and vague about the requests from the two powers. Focusing on Korea’s delay in the participation of AIIB, the paper finds that secondary powers like South Korea often find it “optimal” to be intentionally vague in its policy toward the great powers. Key Words: South Korea; China; the U.S.; the AIIB; Strategic Ambiguity 1 Ⅰ.
    [Show full text]
  • A Matter of Comparison: the Holocaust, Genocides and Crimes Against Humanity an Analysis and Overview of Comparative Literature and Programs
    O C A U H O L S T L E A C N O N I T A A I N R L E T L N I A R E E M C E M B R A N A Matter Of Comparison: The Holocaust, Genocides and Crimes Against Humanity An Analysis And Overview Of Comparative Literature and Programs Koen Kluessien & Carse Ramos December 2018 International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance A Matter of Comparison About the IHRA The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) is an intergovernmental body whose purpose is to place political and social leaders’ support behind the need for Holocaust education, remembrance and research both nationally and internationally. The IHRA (formerly the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research, or ITF) was initiated in 1998 by former Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson. Persson decided to establish an international organisation that would expand Holocaust education worldwide, and asked former president Bill Clinton and former British prime minister Tony Blair to join him in this effort. Persson also developed the idea of an international forum of governments interested in discussing Holocaust education, which took place in Stockholm between 27–29 January 2000. The Forum was attended by the representatives of 46 governments including; 23 Heads of State or Prime Ministers and 14 Deputy Prime Ministers or Ministers. The Declaration of the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust was the outcome of the Forum’s deliberations and is the foundation of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. The IHRA currently has 31 Member Countries, 10 Observer Countries and seven Permanent International Partners.
    [Show full text]
  • Education in North Korea: How the North Korean Regime Uses the Educational System to Preserve the System
    Angela Bauer Education in North Korea: How the North Korean regime uses the educational system to preserve the system children get taught to look up to the leaders as national wrongdoings and criticize them for these, a behavior of Topic and Research Question Methodology and Approach heroes and to be forever thankful to them. To further watching other children is encouraged. make these claims about the leaders believable North Korea is one of the states with one of the longest To approach the topic the so called “Three Pillars of constantly a rewritten, distorted form of history is Results years of compulsory education. It is often said that Stability”, a model developed by Gerschewski et al. presented in classes showing the leaders in a favorable education has positive effects on the development of (2012), consisting of a legitimation, a co-optation and a light and the world as admirers of them. Out of the 17 objectives of the pillars of stability in democracy. North Korea, however, so far, shows no repression pillar, was adapted to apply it for an Regularly North Korea is portrayed in the classes as the educational settings at least 11 were found to be present signs of a democratic transition although children have educational setting. The pillars of these model could be best country – especially in North Korea. These are: 1.) the promotion of ideology to visit schools for 12 years. The research questions the used in an educational setting as shown in the below compared to South Legitimation in classes through teachings about the leaders,
    [Show full text]
  • Like a Magic Trick, the End of the Cold War Fooled and Baffled Its Audience
    SS Cold war February 2005 Monotonicity Paradoxes, Mutual Cooperation, and the End of the Cold War: Merging History and Theory Thomas Schwartz• and Kiron K. Skinner♦ February 2005 1 Introduction Like a magic trick, the end of the Cold War fooled and baffled its audience. It happened in full view of scholars and statesmen, yet it flouted all their expectations and left them wondering how and why. Not only why, but why then. If, by 1988 or so, the rulers of Russia saw no profit in projecting power west and south and maintaining a tight grip on Eastern Europe, why had they continued to do just that for so long? And not only how, but who: was Ronald Reagan lucky to be president then, or were we lucky he was president then? Professor Robert Keohane sharpened the puzzle about Ronald Reagan in remarks to Kiron Skinner in the late 1990s: “The assessment [of Ronald Reagan’s presidency] was so bad but the outcome [of the Cold War] was so good.” He then suggested she attempt to marry the historical account she was interested in with a more theoretical analysis of power and cooperation. To this end, she has joined forces with formal theorist Thomas Schwartz of UCLA. • Professor, Department of Political Science, University of California at Los Angeles. ♦ Assistant Professor, Department of Social and Decision Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, and Research Fellow, Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Skinner is a member of Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s Defense Policy Board and the Chief of Naval Operations Executive Panel. The views expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the United States government.
    [Show full text]
  • Christians and Jews in Muslim Societies
    Arabic and its Alternatives Christians and Jews in Muslim Societies Editorial Board Phillip Ackerman-Lieberman (Vanderbilt University, Nashville, USA) Bernard Heyberger (EHESS, Paris, France) VOLUME 5 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/cjms Arabic and its Alternatives Religious Minorities and Their Languages in the Emerging Nation States of the Middle East (1920–1950) Edited by Heleen Murre-van den Berg Karène Sanchez Summerer Tijmen C. Baarda LEIDEN | BOSTON Cover illustration: Assyrian School of Mosul, 1920s–1930s; courtesy Dr. Robin Beth Shamuel, Iraq. This is an open access title distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC 4.0 license, which permits any non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided no alterations are made and the original author(s) and source are credited. Further information and the complete license text can be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ The terms of the CC license apply only to the original material. The use of material from other sources (indicated by a reference) such as diagrams, illustrations, photos and text samples may require further permission from the respective copyright holder. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Murre-van den Berg, H. L. (Hendrika Lena), 1964– illustrator. | Sanchez-Summerer, Karene, editor. | Baarda, Tijmen C., editor. Title: Arabic and its alternatives : religious minorities and their languages in the emerging nation states of the Middle East (1920–1950) / edited by Heleen Murre-van den Berg, Karène Sanchez, Tijmen C. Baarda. Description: Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2020. | Series: Christians and Jews in Muslim societies, 2212–5523 ; vol.
    [Show full text]
  • Yun Mi Hwang Phd Thesis
    SOUTH KOREAN HISTORICAL DRAMA: GENDER, NATION AND THE HERITAGE INDUSTRY Yun Mi Hwang A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of St Andrews 2011 Full metadata for this item is available in St Andrews Research Repository at: http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/1924 This item is protected by original copyright This item is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence SOUTH KOREAN HISTORICAL DRAMA: GENDER, NATION AND THE HERITAGE INDUSTRY YUN MI HWANG Thesis Submitted to the University of St Andrews for the Degree of PhD in Film Studies 2011 DECLARATIONS I, Yun Mi Hwang, hereby certify that this thesis, which is approximately 80,000 words in length, has been written by me, that it is the record of work carried out by me and that it has not been submitted in any previous application for a higher degree. I was admitted as a research student and as a candidate for the degree of PhD in September 2006; the higher study for which this is a record was carried out in the University of St Andrews between 2006 and 2010. I, Yun Mi Hwang, received assistance in the writing of this thesis in respect of language and grammar, which was provided by R.A.M Wright. Date …17 May 2011.… signature of candidate ……………… I hereby certify that the candidate has fulfilled the conditions of the Resolution and Regulations appropriate for the degree of PhD in the University of St Andrews and that the candidate is qualified to submit this thesis in application for that degree.
    [Show full text]
  • Research If You Do Not Want Them to Know, Do Not Teach Them Statistics? (Story of North Korean Mathematics)
    RESEARCH IF YOU DO NOT WANT THEM TO KNOW, DO NOT TEACH THEM STATISTICS? (STORY OF NORTH KOREAN MATHEMATICS) out shortly after the liberation. North Korea was Jung Hang Lee supported by the USSR and China; and the Western Mathematics Department allies led by the United States aided South Korea. As the war ended in 1953, two countries were formed t has been more than sixty years since Korea on the Korean Peninsula. North Korea, under the was divided into two separate countries – the governance of Kim Il Sung, belonged to the so-called IDemocratic People’s Republic of Korea (North socialist bloc. As North Korea gaining autonomy Korea) and the Republic of Korea (South Korea). from the neighbouring great powers, Kim Il Sung After the Korean War (1950-1953), these two declared his country’s mission to consist in following countries have developed political, social, and its own version of Marxism-Leninism, called “Juche”. educational systems under conflicting ideologies. Juche has been variously translated into English as North Korea developed into a unique form of “self-identity”, “national individuality”, and “national socialist country, whereas South Korea became identity” or “self-reliance”. The dictatorial regime of a democratic country. Even after the events of Kim Il Sung, his son Kim Jong Il, his grandson Kim the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union, North Korea Jong Un and the Workers’ Party of Korea, which was remains one of the most closed-off nations in the under their control, led the country into an extreme world. The separation has resulted in two different poverty, particularly during the so-called “March of Koreas with radically different current status.
    [Show full text]
  • North Korea: a Chronology of Events from 2016 to 2020
    North Korea: A Chronology of Events from 2016 to 2020 May 5, 2020 Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov R46349 North Korea: A Chronology of Events from 2016 to 2020 Contents Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Chronology ...................................................................................................................................... 3 1994 ........................................................................................................................................... 3 1998 ........................................................................................................................................... 3 2003 ........................................................................................................................................... 4 2005 ........................................................................................................................................... 4 2006 ........................................................................................................................................... 4 2007 ........................................................................................................................................... 5 2009 ........................................................................................................................................... 5 2011 ..........................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Entanglements of Modernity, Colonialism and Genocide Burundi and Rwanda in Historical-Sociological Perspective
    UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS Entanglements of Modernity, Colonialism and Genocide Burundi and Rwanda in Historical-Sociological Perspective Jack Dominic Palmer University of Leeds School of Sociology and Social Policy January 2017 Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy ii The candidate confirms that the work submitted is their own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. ©2017 The University of Leeds and Jack Dominic Palmer. The right of Jack Dominic Palmer to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by Jack Dominic Palmer in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would firstly like to thank Dr Mark Davis and Dr Tom Campbell. The quality of their guidance, insight and friendship has been a huge source of support and has helped me through tough periods in which my motivation and enthusiasm for the project were tested to their limits. I drew great inspiration from the insightful and constructive critical comments and recommendations of Dr Shirley Tate and Dr Austin Harrington when the thesis was at the upgrade stage, and I am also grateful for generous follow-up discussions with the latter. I am very appreciative of the staff members in SSP with whom I have worked closely in my teaching capacities, as well as of the staff in the office who do such a great job at holding the department together.
    [Show full text]
  • South Korean Efforts to Counter North Korean Aggression
    http://www.au.af.mil/au/csds/ South Korean Efforts to Counter North The Trinity Site Korean Aggression Papers By Major Aaron C. Baum, USAF http://www.au.af.mil/au/csds/ Recent North Korean nuclear aggression has raised debates Prior to the armistice, President Dwight Eisenhower signaled about how the United States should secure its interests in North- his willingness to use nuclear weapons to end the Korean Con- east Asia. However, any action on the peninsula should consid- flict. He then reiterated his resolve should China and North Ko- er the security preferences of American allies, especially the rea reinitiate hostilities.3 From 1958 to 1991, the United States Republic of Korea (ROK). With militaristic rhetoric coming stationed nuclear artillery, bombs, and missiles in South Korea from the Trump administration, the question arises of how im- to counter a North Korean invasion.4 Further, in 1975 the Ford portant U.S. policy is to the actions of our Korean allies in administration affirmed that the United States would consider countering North Korean (DPRK) nuclear aggression. Thus, it the use of nuclear weapons in a conflict “likely to result in de- is important to review nuclear crises of the past and the align- feat in any area of great importance to the United States in Asia ment of U.S. and ROK policy toward Pyongyang. This paper … including Korea.”5 reviews three periods of nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula It was not until 1978 at the 11th Security Consultative and argues that U.S. military policy is not the sole factor deter- Mechanism (SCM) that extended nuclear deterrence was for- mining South Korean response to DPRK nuclear provocation.
    [Show full text]
  • Cultural Heritage in Korea – from a Japanese Perspective Toshio Asakura National Museum of Ethnology
    Cultural heritage in Korea – from a Japanese perspective Toshio Asakura National Museum of Ethnology Introduction The Korean television drama Dae Jang-geum has been popular not only in Korea but also throughout East Asia, including in Japan, Taiwan and China. It is based on the true story of Jang-geum, the reputedly first woman to hold the position of royal physician in the 16th-century during the Joseon Dynasty (1392−1897). What is interesting about the drama from a perspective of cultural her- itage is that it serves to highlight traditional Korean culture, espe- cially Korean court cuisine and medicine. How to cite this book chapter: Asakura, T 2016 Cultural heritage in Korea – from a Japanese perspective. In: Matsuda, A and Mengoni, L E (eds.) Reconsidering Cultural Heritage in East Asia, Pp. 103–119. London: Ubiquity Press. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.5334/baz.f. License: CC-BY 4.0 104 Reconsidering Cultural Heritage in East Asia I was in charge of supervising the Japanese-language version of this show, and one of the most challenging, yet interesting, aspects of my task was to work out how to translate Korean culture to a Japanese audience.1 By referring to this drama, which was part of the so-called ‘Korean wave’ (hanryû), I will investigate the circum- stances surrounding three aspects of cultural heritage in Korea: culinary culture; Living National Treasures (i.e. holders of Impor- tant Intangible Cultural Properties); and cultural landscapes. Japan and Korea are said to share broadly similar cultural heritage, including amongst other things the influence of Chinese culture, as exemplified by the spoken language and script, and the influence of Confucianism.
    [Show full text]
  • Defecting from Autocracy: Evidence from North Korea and a Simulation
    Defecting from Autocracy: Evidence from North Korea and a Simulation Model1 Alexander Dukalskis, University College Dublin Johan A. Elkink, University College Dublin Hang Xiong, ETH Zurich 11 June 2017 Work in progress Prior to the 1990s defection from North Korea was extremely rare. This changed with the famine that devastated North Korea during the mid-1990s and today over 30,000 North Koreans reside in South Korea while perhaps as many or more live in China. This paper proposes an agent-based simulation model to explore the dynamics of defection from North Korea. Methodologically, the challenge lies in the small proportion of the actual population that defects. Defection is a contagious process, whereby successful defections encourage further defections, but nevertheless remains at an extremely low rate. To model a realistic proportion of defection, the implementation of the simulation will have to allow for a large number of agents, whose behavior will have to be simulated. We model the entire North Korean population based on demographic and economic characteristics, as well as national economic dynamics. We investigate the direct and indirect impacts of the famine that occurred in the mid-1990s nationwide as a systematic shock, which substantially changed the landscape of defection from the country in its aftermath. Simulations are run for a large number of replications to evaluate the robustness and consistency of the simulation findings and are calibrated to the empirical record of defection from North Korea from 1992 to 2014. The simulation results suggest that the North Korean regime has been reducing its repression levels over time, but also that originally individual North Koreans were relatively optimistic about their chances of success and that based on observed defection attempts, they have updated their expectations to more accurately reflect the actual levels of repression.
    [Show full text]