By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter

A five-year-old boy, who came to South Korea alone after parting from his North Korean mother, has obtained North Korean defector status after two years of legal battles here.

The boy, identified as Hwang, was born in China of a North Korean mother, but a local court ruled that a North Korean child born in a foreign country should also be recognized as a North Korean defector.

His mother, whose name was not disclosed, fled North Korea alone, leaving behind her husband and was repatriated several times since 1998. After defecting to China in 2003, she lived with an ethnic Korean-Chinese there, Kim, and gave birth to the boy.

But she was caught again and sent back to the North with the son. She then managed to escape again and tried to enter the South through Mongolia ― an attempt that failed. She was repatriated to North Korea, but the son was not because one of Kim's relatives stood guarantee for the boy, saying Hwang was Chinese.

In 2006, the boy came to South Korea with help of relatives and human rights organizations here.

Through their help, the boy asked the authorities to acknowledge him as a North Korean defector. But the Ministry of Unification refused, saying that his mother virtually divorced the husband in the North through a long-term defection and gave birth to Hwang with a Chinese man, saying the boy has Chinese nationality.

According to Chinese law, Chinese nationality is given to a person when one parent is Chinese and he or she was born in China. If Kim was acknowledged as Hwang's father, the boy would be considered as a Chinese national. In that case, he could not get North Korean status, which is given to those who have a direct family line in the North; and who have not obtained foreign national status after defection.

Through a human rights group, the boy filed a suit against the South Korean government, claiming his birthmother is in North Korea and he has not gained Chinese nationality. The Seoul Administrative Court ruled in favor of the boy Saturday.

``Considering the mother was staying in North Korea about eight months before the son was born, it is unlikely that she virtually divorced the North Korean husband. We acknowledge Hwang as the child of the North Korean husband,'' the court said.

``The boy entered the South by using the surname `Kim' instead of `Hwang,' a surname belonging to the North Korean husband. But we see that he used `Kim' to disguise himself as Chinese in case he was caught. We recognize the boy as a North Korean defector,'' it said.

rahnita@koreatimes.co.kr