The number of North Koreans defecting to South Korea is increasing rapidly. They are important people to South Korean society not only for humanitarian reasons, but also for their impact on the future Korean unification and the integration of the two different South and North Korean peoples. However, the defectors have experienced many difficulties in their adaptation to South Korean society due to their own characteristics and due to the misunderstandings of the South Korean people. To obtain comprehensive qualitative data about the characteristics and difficulties of North Korean defectors' adaptation to South Korean society, 58 semi-structured in-depth interviews were performed with 32 defectors who had entered South Korea from 1990 to 1997. Four categories of adaptation difficulties were encountered, which are related with the defectors' suspiciousness, different ways of thinking, searching for new sets of values, and with the prejudice of the South Korean people. Finally, three areas of suggestions for the more successful adaptation of the defectors to South Korean society were made; a need for more comprehensive perspectives on the defectors' adaptation, suggestions regarding educational programs and suggestions for educating the South Korean people. ; open
Refugees experience various kinds of trauma during the migration process, which can cause psychiatric problems such as posttraumatic stress disorder. However, in the process of overcoming traumatic experiences, they may also experience posttraumatic growth (PTG). This study examined the level of PTG and its associated factors among North Korean defectors, including posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). In total, 212 North Korean defectors completed self-report questionnaires measuring PTG (PTG inventory), PTSS (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist, PCL-5), quality of life (WHOQOL-BREF), and various sociodemographic variables. Participants completed the survey online, from July 27 to August 4, 2020. Participants reported a moderate level of PTG scores (51.7 ± 15.4, range 0-80). To determine the impact of PTSS on PTG among North Korean defectors, we conducted a hierarchical multiple regression analysis. In the final model, several sociodemographic factors (years in South Korea, education in North Korea, religion, and employment status), overall quality of life (β = 0.321, p < 0.001), and PTSS (β = 0.162, p = 0.035) were positively associated with PTG, whereas living with family (β = - 0.1261, p = 0.040) and loneliness (β = - 0.401, p < 0.001) were negatively associated with PTG, accounting for 36.6% of the variance in PTG scores (p < 0.001). This is the first large-scale study describing the level of PTG and its associated factors among North Korean defectors residing in South Korea. Further, our study provides suggestions for future research in this area, and interventions for improving PTG among this group. ; open
This qualitative study addresses the deficit in current Korean government policy in integrating young North Korean defectors and demonstrates the catalysts and inhibitors of young North Koreans integrating to South Korean society. It does so through secondary source, narrative analysis and by examining young North Korean defectors' responses in primary interviews in other studies on life in South Korea. The responses were coded by theme and organized into three categories of concern for young defectors based on their responses: culture and language, power, and income and housing. The results informed recommendations understood through Ager and Strang's domains of integration and are based on current practices in aiding displaced people employed by states and intergovernmental actors. These recommendations were addressed to the Korean government. The goal of this research is to improve the lives of young North Korean people in South Korea by questioning current local integration approaches which do not incorporate Forced Migration thought in their implementation.
BACKGROUND: To gain insights into the socio-economic and political determinants of ill health and access to healthcare in North Korea. METHODS: A retrospective survey using respondent-driven sampling conducted in 2014–15 among 383 North Korean refugees newly resettling in South Korea, asking about experiences of illness and utilization of healthcare while in North Korea, analyzed according to measures of political, economic and human rights indicators. RESULTS: Although the Public Health Act claims that North Korea provides the comprehensive free care system, respondents reported high levels of unmet need and, among those obtaining care, widespread informal expenditure. Of the respondents, 55.1% (95%CI, 47.7–63.7%) had received healthcare for the most recent illness episode. High informal costs (53.8%, 95%CI, 45.1–60.8%) and a lack of medicines (39.5%, 95%CI, 33.3–47.1%) were reported as major healthcare barriers resulting in extensive self-medication with narcotic analgesics (53.7%, 95%CI, 45.7–61.2%). In multivariate logistic regressions, party membership was associated with better access to healthcare (Adjusted OR (AOR) = 2.34, 95%CI, 1.31–4.18), but household income (AOR = 0.40, 95%CI 0.21–0.78) and informal market activity (AOR = 0.29, 95%CIs 0.15–0.50) with reduced access. Respondents who could not enjoy political and economic rights were substantially more likely to report illness and extremely reduced access to care, even with life-threatening conditions. CONCLUSIONS: There are large disparities in health and access to healthcare in North Korea, associated with political and economic inequalities. The scope to use these findings to bring about change is limited but they can inform international agencies and humanitarian organizations working in this unique setting.
From Springer Nature via Jisc Publications Router ; History: received 2020-01-12, accepted 2020-06-02, registration 2020-06-03, pub-electronic 2020-06-29, online 2020-06-29, collection 2020-12 ; Publication status: Published ; Funder: Korea Institute for National Unification; Grant(s): N/A ; Abstract: Background: To gain insights into the socio-economic and political determinants of ill health and access to healthcare in North Korea. Methods: A retrospective survey using respondent-driven sampling conducted in 2014–15 among 383 North Korean refugees newly resettling in South Korea, asking about experiences of illness and utilization of healthcare while in North Korea, analyzed according to measures of political, economic and human rights indicators. Results: Although the Public Health Act claims that North Korea provides the comprehensive free care system, respondents reported high levels of unmet need and, among those obtaining care, widespread informal expenditure. Of the respondents, 55.1% (95%CI, 47.7–63.7%) had received healthcare for the most recent illness episode. High informal costs (53.8%, 95%CI, 45.1–60.8%) and a lack of medicines (39.5%, 95%CI, 33.3–47.1%) were reported as major healthcare barriers resulting in extensive self-medication with narcotic analgesics (53.7%, 95%CI, 45.7–61.2%). In multivariate logistic regressions, party membership was associated with better access to healthcare (Adjusted OR (AOR) = 2.34, 95%CI, 1.31–4.18), but household income (AOR = 0.40, 95%CI 0.21–0.78) and informal market activity (AOR = 0.29, 95%CIs 0.15–0.50) with reduced access. Respondents who could not enjoy political and economic rights were substantially more likely to report illness and extremely reduced access to care, even with life-threatening conditions. Conclusions: There are large disparities in health and access to healthcare in North Korea, associated with political and economic inequalities. The scope to use these findings to bring about change is limited but they can inform international agencies and humanitarian organizations working in this unique setting.
A review of studies on the adaptation problems of North Korean defectors in South Korean society and studies of people's adaptation to political and cultural changes in other countries suggests that similar adaptation problems may occur in the process of and after unification. Defectors have various adaptation problems and some of them have psychiatric disorders such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The reasons for this were revealed to be the difference in the culture and personality between South and North Korea, which have developed for the last 60 years without any communication with each other, in spite of their common racial and cultural heritage. Economic factors including the lack of skills and knowledge for working at industrialized and competitive society like South Korean society, also aggravate the severity of such adaptation problems. Research on defectors' adaptation problems and on the differences in the culture and mentality between North and South Korea can provide useful information on what kinds of problems may arise during the process of and after unification and what should be done to achieve mutual adaptation and harmonious and peaceful unification. ; open
APPROVED ; This thesis deals with the relationship between North Korean defectors and the South Korean Protestant churches in light of Emmanuel Levinas' philosophy. North Korean defectors who stay in the South experience significant otherisation and polarisation in their engagement with the Korean Protestant churches. The Protestant churches, as the second-largest resource provider to the defectors after the government, actively welcome them. However, the churches approach the defectors to achieve a missional agendum, particularly to convert them to Christianity, and use them as anti-communist activists. Intentionally or unintentionally, the churches create a hierarchical relationship where the beneficiary is at the mercy of the benefactor churches, and this inevitably leads to the seizing of the defectors into the logic of the churches. This thesis examines how defectors are exposed to otherisation and polarisation through the churches' attitudes, particularly hospitality. Through an interdisciplinary approach, the thesis reveals that the defectors are situated in the church-centric relation. To survive in the South, the defectors are forced to erase their own unique subjectivity and assimilate into the dominant narrative of the South. In addition, the churches achieve their politicised missional agenda by utilising the defectors as a propaganda tool. The churches, as the powerful subject, treat the defectors from the church-centred perspective that subjects them to ontological violence. This thesis also explores how the churches can transform their attitudes towards the defectors in order to avoid otherising and polarising them. Levinas' philosophical idea of hospitality is suggested as a way to overcome the limitations of church-centric hospitality. Levinas' hospitality which is based on Other-centredness seeks to establish an ethical relation that welcomes the alterity and otherness of the Other and takes responsibility for the Other's needs. Following Levinas' idea, the churches' authentic hospitality lies not only in welcoming the defectors' subjectivity but also participating in the political struggle to emancipate the defectors from the gaze of abhorrence and the oppressive social structure of the South.
During the Cold War defectors were invariably paraded as propaganda trophies. The wider political significance of defections has hitherto been interrogated almost exclusively in an East–West binary. Utilising recently declassified documents from three continents, attention is focused on the elided role played by the developing world in the Cold War asylum story and, specifically, that of non-aligned India. By reinterpreting international responses to three Soviet defections that occurred in India in the 1960s, new light is shed upon political asylum as a source of North–South tension and discord.
The number of North Korean defectors entering South Korea has been increasing rapidly since 1994. Two hundred North Korean defectors in South Korea were studied to identify their experiences of traumatic events in North Korea and during defection, and the correlation with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Researchers conducted face-to-face interviews and assisted defectors in performing a self-report assessment of this survey. The study questionnaire consisted of demographic characteristics, the Traumatic Experiences Scale for North Korean Defectors, and the PTSD part of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R Korean version. Prevalence rate of PTSD in defectors was 29.5%, with a higher rate for women. In factor analysis, the 25 items of traumatic events experienced in North Korea were divided into three factors: Physical Trauma, Political-Ideological Trauma, and Family-Related Trauma. In addition, the 19 items of traumatic events during defection were grouped into four factors: Physical Trauma, Detection and Capture-Related Trauma, Family-Related Trauma, and Betrayal-Related Trauma. In multifactorial logistic regression analysis, Family-Related Trauma in North Korea had a significant odds ratio. ; restriction
Cuba has been recognized for its achievements in international sports competitions and has been one of the most outstanding Latin American countries, with approximately 208 medals obtained in the Olympic Games (Miguel Ernesto, 2016). Nevertheless, at the same time, it has been one of the countries with the highest number of athletes who desert when being in any competition outside the island due to the political and economic limitations experienced there (El Observador, 2018). ; Cuba ha sido reconocida por sus logros en las contiendas deportivas internacionales siendo uno de los países latinoamericanos más destacados con aproximadamente 208 medallas obtenidas en los Juegos Olímpicos (Miguel Ernesto, 2016). Sin embargo, al mismo tiempo, ha sido uno de los países con mayor número de deportistas que desertan al estar en alguna competición fuera de la isla, debido a las limitaciones políticas y económicas que se viven allí (El Observador, 2018).
Objectives竊숿he objective of this study is to evaluate the subjective quality of life(QOL) of North Korean defectors in South Korean society and to compare it with QOL when they were in North Korea and QOL of South Korean. Method竊숿he subjects were 43 North Korean defectors who had lived for 1 to 3 years in South Korea, who rated their subjective quality of life(QOL). A group of 113 North Korean defectors under a socializing education program of governmental organization before releasing to South Korean society rated retrospectively the subjective QOL which they had felt while they were in North Korea. Instrument was the Korean Version of bief form of World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale(WHOQOL-BREF). These results were compared with data from the standardization study of the Korean Version of WHOQOL as a control group which consist of 324 South Koreans. Result竊숿he total score of WHOQOL-Bref of North Korean defectors in South Korean society was not significantly different with that of South Koreans, but scores in psysical domain, negative feeling and economic resource were significantly lower in defectors. Especially QOL in facets of negative feeling and economic resource become lower after defection to South Korea. But QOL in psychological domain and environmental domain become higher. In retrospective rating, The total score of QOL in North Korea was significantly lower than that of South Koreans and especially lower in physical domain, psychologocal domain and environmental domain. However in general, QOL of North Korean defectors in negative feeling, self-esteem, body image and appearance and personal relationship seem not to be worse than that of South Koreans. Conclusion竊숿he result of this study suggest that, as QOL of North Korean defectors in South Korean society generally is low, they need help, especially help for resolving conflict due to negative feeling, economic support, medical service, educational service and spiritual support. ; open
Objectives : The purpose of this study is to analyze the experience of South Korean police짯men who are in charge of supporting the North Korean defectors쨈 adaption to South Korean society for 2 years. Methods : Written-form survey questionnaire were sent to all policemen who were in charge of defectors with the help of the National police bureau. Results : 172 policemen answered to survey questionnaire. There was no difference of human relationship score according to the defectors쨈 sex, age, academic career. But defectors with low academic career showed bad human relationship as time went by. The type of human relationship change were different according to the defectors쨈 age. Defectors who entered to South Korea directly from North Korea in short period had a better relationship in comparison with those who escaped to China or other third countries and stayed there for a long time to get a chance to enter to South Korea. As the policemen are younger, the relationship scores were better. But when some problem occurred in their relationship, younger policemen were less successful in solving the problem. There were many kind of efforts of policemen to improve the human relationship and it showed that the education-oriented effort is more effective and successful than direct problem-solving effort. Conclusion : This study showed that the human relationship of defectors and policemen in charge are affected by some demographic factors and defection routes and the types of efforts of policemen to improve the human relationship. It was suggested that the role of policemen in charge of defectors should be more well-defined, and NGO(Non Government Organization) need to have more continuos and specified program to help defectors쨈 adaptation. Finally, the importance of continuing scientific researches about defectors쨈 adaptation was emphasized. ; open
Objectives: Since 1994, the number of North Korean defectors, escaping North Korea and entering South Korea, has increased rapidly. The Government has provided most of the support for the defectors` adaptation to their new society. But as the number of defectors has increased, and the support needs have become more various, the support of volunteers from non-governmental organization (NGO) has become very important. To raise the level of the success and effectiveness of the support from the volunteers, their experiences were surveyed and analyzed. Methods: This study surveyed 83 volunteers of 7 NGOs involved in helping North Korean defectors` adaptation to South Korean society-48 men and 34 women. Results: In their relationships with defectors, women volunteers have more difficulties in their first 3 months. However volunteers in their 50s and 60s tend to have more stable and better relationships with defectors than younger volunteers. Many volunteers statedexperiences of human difficulties with defectors, for example, mistrust and anxiety in human relationship (n=34, 41.0%), psychological maladjustment (n=19, 22.9%), different ways of thinking and culture (n=17, 20.5%), economic difficulties (n=10, 12.0%), and lack of independence spirit (n=6, 7.2%). The volunteers said they have feelings of goodwill toward defectors when defectors showed warm heart (n=30, 36.1%), politeness (n=30, 36.1%), positive and active character (n=24, 28.9%), strong will (n=17, 20.5%), and plainness (n=14, 16.0%). The volunteers stated an absence of goodwill feelings to defectors when defectors showed uncompromising and aggressive attitudes (n=29, 34.9%), lack of independent will (n=28, 33.7%), selfishness (n=18, 21.7%), and avoidance of making human relationship (n=16, 19.3%). As for adequate training before commencing activity, 5 volunteers (6.0%) said they had received enough education before their activity, 31(37.3%) relatively enough, 38 (45.8%) relatively not enough, and 9 (10.8%) absolutely not enough education. If they were the owners of a company, 27 volunteers (51 .9%) said they would want to hire defectors even if the defectors did not have the required ability. Conclusion: These results showed that NGO`s volunteers have a friendlier attitude to defectors than policemen in charge and public officials, which is their strong point. Women volunteers experience more difficulties in their early relationships with defectors, suggesting the need for a specific pre-education program for women volunteers. Furthermore, NGOs would benefit from an increase in the number of volunteers in their 50`s and 60`s. Both volunteers and defectors need to understand each other to a deeper extent and the characteristics to which South Korean volunteers feel goodwill need to be used in their education. ; open
