Lee Hae-rin is a City Desk reporter at The Korea Times, covering social issues, tourism and taekwondo. She is passionate about speaking up for the rights of minorities, including women, LGBTQ+, people with disabilities and animals as well as discovering the latest makgeolli trend in town. Feel free to reach her at lhr@koreatimes.co.kr.
S. Korea designates July 14 as day for NK defectors
North Korean defectors and members of the National Unification Advisory Council show cakes they made during a mentor-mentee program, scheduled to help North Korean defectors' settlement in South Korea, at the Kim Koo Museum and Library in Seoul's Yongsan District, May 9. Yonhap
By Lee Hae-rin
South Korea has designated July 14 as a national memorial day for North Korean defectors, the Ministry of Unification announced Monday.
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety will promulgate revised regulations on national memorial days Tuesday, the ministry added.
The announcement comes four months after a Jan. 16 Cabinet meeting in which President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered the unification and interior ministries to jointly designate the national memorial day to enhance North Korean defectors’ settlement here and promote their engagement toward the world.
July 14 is the day that the North Korean Defectors Protection and Settlement Support Act, which stipulates North Korean defectors’ legal status here and the government’s settlement support policy for them, first took effect in 1997.
The unification ministry is preparing several events to celebrate the first edition of the day this year and make it more relatable to the public.
Setting up a memorial statue in remembrance of North Koreans who lost their lives while escaping from their homeland is among the planned initiatives.
“The government plans to celebrate every July 14 as a day to embrace North Korean defectors, extend their rights and interests and raise public awareness on reunification by facilitating cultural integration between South and North Koreans,” an official from the unification ministry said in a press statement.