Lots of adaptation needed for young North Koreans in the South

North Korean refugees [now living in South Korea] are baffled by street protests such as the rallies against US beef imports and against President Lee Myung-Bak earlier this summer.

“I was shocked to hear them use invectives about the president,” said one interviewee. “In the North, that lands you straight in jail.”

Street demonstrations are part of a major culture shock for young North Korean refugees struggling to adapt to a new life in South Korea, a recent survey shows.
Speeding traffic and skyscrapers are also alien to young people arriving in the democratic capitalist South from their impoverished hardline communist state, according to the findings published by Yonhap news agency.

Young refugees often feel like second-class citizens because they are unfamiliar with South Korean customs.