Yu Jung-keun
Red Cross president |
By Kim Young-jin
The South Korean Red Cross will expand assistance to North Koreans who have resettled here as the organization believes their number will continue to grow in the future, according to its President Yu Jung-keun.
“Recently, the number of settlers from North Korea (coming here) has been increasing,” Yu told The Korea Times during a recent interview in Seoul. “This number will likely continue to increase, and in response, we plan to strengthen our activities concerning these individuals.”
Over 23,000 North Koreans have defected to the South since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, with at least 2,000 arriving during each of the last six years, according to the Ministry of Unification. Their plight remains a thorny issue between the two countries that are still technically at war.
The interview came against the backdrop of the death of longtime North Korean leader Kim Jong-il last month and as the world watches to see how Pyongyang’s new leadership under his youngest son, Kim Jong-un, will fare.
Despite leaving their homeland, many defectors face a host of struggles adapting to life in the capitalist South including stereotyping and problems in the job and education sectors.
“We recently launched a group of specialized volunteers, who will be trained and dispatched to specifically assist the needs of such individuals,” said Yu, 66, who was named as the South’s first female Red Cross president in October.
The volunteers will help the participants “integrate smoothly into society and culture through activities such as paying home visits and mentoring on cultural and employment issues,” the organization said.
It prioritizes the new defectors as one of its “core vulnerable groups” that also include senior citizens living alone, low-income children and multicultural families.
Social workers say many defectors grapple with issues from their past, including the often-traumatic journey here they say can include experiences in human trafficking. Polls show they have a higher unemployment rate and lower average wages than their South Korean counterparts.
The late Kim’s death has cast uncertainty on inter-Korean humanitarian projects facilitated by the Red Cross societies of each side as analysts say Pyongyang could focus on its internal situation in the near-term as Kim Jong-un secures power.
Yu proposed in late November a fresh round of inter-Korean family reunions by last year’s end to a senior North Korean Red Cross official during an international Red Cross meeting in Geneva. The event did not materialize as the official reportedly replied it would take two months to prepare.
Tens of thousands separated by the Korean War have met temporarily through the reunions but concern remains high as most of those waiting here to meet their family members are in their 80s and 90s and some 4,000 die each year having never done so.
“I can’t think of any other domestic humanitarian issue more pressing than this. The Red Cross society in the DPRK is also well aware of our situation. We are working to resume the reunions and will continue to do so,” Yu said, using the acronym for the North’s official name.
She said she will push to expand the number of participants and to make the reunions a regular event as well as to establish “re-reunions” to allow past participants to meet their separated families again and visit their childhood hometowns.
Cross-border tensions remain high over the North’s nuclear program and its 2010 shelling of Yeonpyeong Island. The respective Red Cross societies often play a role in thawing ties, with the South’s branch at times mobilizing food aid for the Stalinist state.
Yu, whose role was authorized by President Lee Myung-bak after her service as the organization’s vice president, said more trust was needed to foster greater humanitarian engagement between the Koreas.
“It is true that the inter-Korean relationship of both Red Cross societies has been unstable at times against the backdrop of military and political events,” she said. “We therefore believe that revival of trust between the two Koreas is crucial for both societies to pursue stable and long-term humanitarian operations.”
Yu believes her appointment as the first female Red Cross chief reflects the organization’s ability to adapt to the changing times.
“There is a growing demand from the public for more tolerant, compassionate leadership that focuses more on soft power, which many female leaders worldwide embrace,” she said.
“I am convinced that my soft-power leadership is befitting for an organization like the Red Cross that appeals to the public on the grounds of humanity.”
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