N.Korean Defector Seeks to Run Lawmakers Post
By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
A North Korea defector has registered as a candidate to run in the April 9 general elections for the first time in South Korea's history, the National Election Commission said Tuesday.
Yoon Seung-gil, who defected from the Stalinist state eight years ago, said he wants to work as an Assemblyman to support other defectors by revising related laws.
He added it is necessary to increase public awareness of the need to prepare for unification and defectors can play an important role in this.
The hopeful also pointed out the Assembly has yet to prepare a full system to help the settlement of about 13,000 defectors.
He hopes to run as a candidate of the conservative Grand National Party (GNP) in Gangseo, Seoul, where he lives.
As he must pay 15 million won (nearly $16,000) to become a formal candidate, Yoon plans to raise the money from North Korea defectors.
Yoon came to the South in October 2000 via China and Mongolia.
After his father was executed in a factional feud, he said his family was expelled from Pyongyang and he was shunned when he applied for admission to schools.
Currently, he runs a consulting firm to provide information related to North Korea to South Koreans.
The number of North Korean defectors has increased ― according to the Unification Ministry, 1,990 North Koreans sought asylum in the South as of the end of October last year.
Defectors can obtain full citizenship here when they complete a two-month education course at the Hanawon resettlement facility in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province.