By Yang Jeong-yoon
I have done volunteer work several times at ``Hanawon,'' a place that offers settlement education for North Korean defectors. Through this experience I realized the harsh consequences of the tragic division of the Korean peninsula, which I have studied for my school grades.
The number of North Korean defectors who have come to South Korea reached more than 10,000 February this year. In addition to the 10,000 defectors, there are reportedly a few hundred thousand fugitives wandering around in China, Thailand, Mongolia and etc.
Hundreds of fortunate defectors have succeeded in getting shelter either in South Korean consulates or refugee camps of their host country. Having admitted more than 10,000 defectors from North Korea and anticipating an ever-increasing number in the future, South Korea should find ways to help them settle with less difficulty here.
Based on my experience at Hanawon, I have a couple of suggestions in this regard. Defectors suffer both physical and psychological wounds when they abscond from their homes and seek temporary shelter in South Korean consulates and other accommodation.
We must not overlook the hardship of waiting for at least three or four months and mostly six to 12 months in heavily crowded shelters. The South Korean government must double its diplomatic efforts to persuade host countries to shorten the miserable accommodation period. It is indeed inhuman to let them stay so long in such shelters. The latest hunger strike by defectors in a shelter in Thailand demonstrated how devastating their difficulties were.
It is also important for the Seoul government to prevent the Beijing government from deporting defectors back to North Korea against their will. China considers the North Korean defectors not as refugees but as illegal residents who cross the border for economic purposes. Thus, China has rejected an appeal from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to consider them as refugees.
Moreover, China doesn't want to upset North Korea by helping defectors escape to South Korea. In close consultation with China, we should shorten the defectors' stay in shelters as well as prevent any defector from being repatriated back to the North against his or her will.
It is time that the South Korean government amends the North Korean defector acceptance policy. Currently the government is sending out the defectors to their new society after eight weeks of settlement education in Hanawon. But there are some problems in the system.
In the first place, there aren't enough facilities in Hanawon to accept and educate the inflowing defector population, which are about more than 200 a month. The government should expand the facility to accommodate more defectors. The education will be of great help to those in need of adjusting to a totally different social system. However, we need to reconsider whether the education period is long or not.
Also, to truly make home for the defectors, government support alone is not enough. Every part of society shares the responsibility. Defectors are provided a rental house. But in certain districts where these rental homes are concentrated, conflict is sparked by opposing local citizens.
Alongside this housing difficulty, the problems of the defectors' children cannot be neglected. Most of them are not able to study for months and years due to their having had to wander around seeking safety for long periods of time.
Getting a job and adjusting is certainly the biggest difficulty for the North Koreans. The government has been helping out with their employment by offering vocational training and subsidies. Local autonomous entities, welfare facilities and employers must contribute to helping the defectors as well. Above all, individual effort of the defectors is a prerequisite to their stable settlement.
It is about time that we need to upgrade our policies and demeanor as true citizens. We must not throw into oblivion the prejudice, bitterness, and sorrow our ancestors felt as they journeyed to places where they were not welcomed, but find the North Korean defectors in the exact same place as them. North Korean defectors, who have endured all the anguish just to taste a piece of what we all take for granted, deserve to be bestowed with affability, care, and love.
yupkkijesusluba@hanmail.net
Yang Jeong-yoon is a senior student at Daewon Foreign Language High School in Seoul. She is also a Korea Times junior reporter.