Clash over NK defector label fuels debate over identity

A bill to change South Korea’s legal term for North Korean defectors set off a shouting match at the National Assembly Thursday after an opposition lawmaker challenged Unification Minister Chung Dong-young over the proposed name.

“Minister Buk Dong-young, why is it OK to call me ‘bukhyangmin?’” asked Rep. Park Choong-kwon of the main opposition People Power Party, who fled North Korea in 2009. He had replaced Chung’s surname with “buk,” the Korean word for north.

Rep. Lee Ki-heon of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea shot back by asking whether he could call Park “Tal Choong-kwon.” He took “tal,” meaning escape, from “talbukmin,” the term commonly used for North Korean defectors in the South. Chung demanded an apology. Park apologized before the meeting resumed.

The exchange came as the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee took up a bill introduced by Rep. Kim Jae-won of the Rebuilding Korea Party. It would replace the legal term for North Korean defectors with bukhyangmin, a term for people whose hometowns are in North Korea. The unification ministry has used the term since early this year.

“North Korean defectors rejected the dictatorship and risked their lives in search of freedom,” Park said. He accused Chung of trying to erase “that history and identity.”

In a YouTube interview, Park said the survey on the name change gave respondents few alternatives and steered them toward bukhyangmin.

“There was no consensus among defectors on the term,” he said. “Changing the term won’t change how people see North Korean defectors.”

Chung backed an earlier effort to change the name during his first stint as unification minister. In 2005, the ministry introduced “saeteomin,” a term for people starting life in a new place. The government dropped it from official use in 2008. The legal term, “bukhan ital jumin,” meaning residents who defected from North Korea, remained in place, while talbukmin stayed in everyday use.

In March, the unification ministry adopted “North Korean-born citizens” for its English materials, saying the term reflected both where defectors were born and their status as South Korean citizens.

The foreign ministry was cautious about adopting the wording. In October, it told lawmakers that changing the legal term could make it harder for Seoul to persuade third countries to refrain from forcibly returning defectors to North Korea.

About 50 North Korean defectors rallied outside Government Complex Seoul Thursday to oppose the change. They chanted “We are North Korean defectors” and called for Chung to resign.

“We fled North Korea because we were fed up with the Kim Jong-un regime. Leaving the North is part of our identity,” said Lee Eun-taek, secretary-general of the defector association that organized the rally. “We reject the label bukhyangmin because it denies our identity.”

Cho Kyung-il, head of Peace Agora, said he supports bukhyangmin because it acknowledges the ties defectors still have to their hometowns.

“When you call us 'talbukja' (someone who fled North Korea) or 'italja' (a broader term for someone who has left or broken away), it makes us sound like we abandoned our hometown. It cuts us off from who we are,” Cho said on his YouTube channel.

After the rally, the unification ministry said it was using the new term to promote respect for defectors and help them integrate into South Korean society. A ministry official said the government was listening to different views and hoped to keep talking with the group that organized the rally.