School for NK Refugees Gets Gov’t Certification

By Park Si-soo

Staff Reporter

Sporting stylishly ripped, metal-decorated jeans, colorful baseball caps and pierced ears, four students began to dance to a modified version of "Amazing Grace" before dozens of their peers and teachers at a school auditorium in central Seoul, Tuesday.

The audience whistled and screamed and some gave a standing ovation as the two-minute performance came to an end. Among the audience were girls with long, brown-dyed straight hair and light makeup.

While the scene might appear to be a common occurrence, for Cho Myung-sook, vice president of Yeomyung School in central Seoul, it meant a lot.

Fighting back tears, Cho said, "Expecting to see such a performance playing out before me just a couple of years ago was all but impossible. It's a really touching moment for me."

Yeomyung ― which means "dawning" ― is one of the few alternative schools established here for North Korean defectors. Founded in September 2004 with financial support from Christian churches, it has graduated 56 students and many of them have gone on to university.

At present, 45 students ― whose ages are 23 on average ― are attending the "high school."

In March, Yeomyung became the first North Korean defectors-only alternative school whose graduates are recognized as the same as those who finished regular schooling by the education authorities. This means its senior students can skip an extra state-administered qualification test, called "Gumjeong Gosi," to apply for college admission.

The students' performance was part of a ceremony to celebrate the recognition of the school's graduates.

Education Minister Ahn Byeong-man and several high-ranking officials attended the event.

"We all know your journey to South Korea was full of ordeal and hardship. In this school, I wish you will be able to recover your abandoned dreams," the minister said in a congratulatory speech. "Study hard. It may not be easy. But it will pay off in the future."

North Korean defectors are no longer strangers in the South ― more than 20,000 are living here. Of them, nearly 1,500, including education-conscious adults, are attending primary and secondary schools, including special institutes like Yeomyung, state statistics show.

Many of those attending non-special schools have found themselves alienated or ridiculed by their native South Korean classmates for cultural and linguistic differences. Such ordeals have led to many of them at non-specialized secondary schools and universities dropping out.

"As the number of North Korean defectors coming to Seoul increases, so does the number of those of school age," said Cho. "But we don't have enough education institutes specialized for defectors, making it difficult for them to adapt to a society with a completely different culture and social system, as well as mindset, in a short period of time."

Lee Seong-ju, 26, is a senior student at Yeomyung. He only completed primary schooling in the North, before escaping to China in the late 1990s from Moosan, a border village. Lee arrived in Seoul two years ago, but experienced a tough time adapting to South Korean society.

"North Korea is a state without forgiveness," Lee said. "When people do something wrong there, they habitually deny it when caught out. That's the way to survive. But I was alienated from other native South Koreans and even bullied because of it."

Now, Lee dreams of becoming a teacher after majoring in ethics at university.

"As a teacher, who was born in the North, I might be able to have deeper knowledge and understanding about defectors' kids," Lee said. "Above all, I express my deepest gratitude for the dedication and tireless support of Yeomyung teachers who allowed me to have this dream."