Financial plight of North Korean defectors living in the South

Less than half of North Koreans who have defected to South Korea since 2000 are “economically active,” according to research conducted by a support foundation for North Korean defectors based in Seoul. The term “economically active” refers to people who furnish the labor for the production of economic goods and services, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The North Korean Refugees Foundation surveyed 1,200 defectors last year and found that only 42.5 percent of them were economically active after defecting. By comparison, 61.1 percent of South Koreans are active, according to Statistics Korea. Hiring rates were found to be lower for the defectors, at 38.8 percent, compared to 59.1 for South Korean citizens. 

According to the report, 20.4 percent of defectors employed were engaged in simple labor, 19.6 percent in machinery operation or assembly and 18.7 percent in service occupations. Only 4.1 percent are self-employed and 0.9 percent are employers.

Other survey results dealt with the health conditions of the defectors, of which 44.3 percent said that they “did not feel they were healthy.” Nearly a third of the 1,200 were suffering from arthritis, lumbar and joint problems. 　

JoongAng Daily

Public Sector Jobs for North Korean Defectors

Chosun Ilbo reports the South Korean government will set a 1-percent quota for North Korean defectors in administrative assistant jobs at public agencies. The government assumes that about 3,000 North Koreans arrive in South Korea on average every year and have a hard time adapting to their new environment partly due to difficulties finding jobs.

A Ministry of Public Administration and Security spokesman said the government "decided to take the lead in hiring North Korean defectors to raise awareness of them and encourage private companies to follow suit."

The ministry plans to ask former and current public servants to serve as mentors for defectors and give them a training course through which they can develop their skills.

According to the ministry, the total number of defectors is expected to exceed the 30,000 mark in 2013.

Over 20,000 North Korean defectors have now entered South Korea

South Korea says 20,050.North Koreans have now defected to the South, with more than 10,000 defections over the past three years.

The South Korean Unification Ministry said Monday that about as many North Koreans have defected to the South since 2007 as over the entire previous period since the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice.

North Korean defector prepares for Korean unification

Kang Chul-ho, a former North Korean refugee now a pastor living in Seoul, believes that at the time of Korean reunification, North Korean defectors in South Korea could play a crucial role in bridging the ideological, economical and social gaps that have widened during the six-decade division.

"It took me 10 years to adjust and become a South Korean. It may take the same amount of time for North Koreans to adjust to a new life here when the two Koreas reunite. The defectors here could help reduce the time by assisting them. We need to train them."

Kang stressed the need to pay more attention to North Korean defectors struggling to adjust to a capitalist South that is "diametrically different" from what they experienced in the North.

"Many churches here are interested in providing aid to North Korea while they pay little attention to the defectors here [in South Korea]. When we cannot embrace North Korean defectors, how can we embrace North Koreans? With proper education and attention, we should help them confidently live in this society," he said.

North Korea again demands that S. Korea return defectors

North Korea is repeating its demand that South Korea return a group of 11 North Koreans who defected by sea last week.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung said Friday that the North reiterated the demand one day earlier through a military hot line.

Seoul told Pyongyang that the North Koreans expressed the desire to settle in South Korea.

2800 North Korean defectors settle in S. Korea in 2009

More than 2,800 North Koreans defectors settled in South Korea last year, Yonhap News Agency reported Sunday.

This brings the cumulative number of North Korean defectors in South Korea to nearly 17,000.

The annual rate of increase was 26 percent and 46 percent in 2007 and 2006, respectively, according to the report submitted by Seoul's Unification Ministry to the National Assembly.