Helping North Korean defectors overcome the language gap

College volunteers with a group of student defectors from North Korea during a summer camp held by Dream Touch For All, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educational equity in Korea. / Courtesy of Dream Touch For All

Dream Touch For All endeavors to provide quality education to all students

By You Soo-sun

Dedicated to closing the education gap in Korea, “Dream Touch For All” provides afterschool tutoring services to students from disadvantaged backgrounds ― including North Korean defectors. With an emphasis on providing quality and continuous education, the nonprofit organization is striving to make its programs meet the students’ academic needs.

For most students, this means providing training in math, English, and Korean: the three core courses that largely determine their chance of being admitted to a university here. For defectors, it focuses on enhancing their language skills ― both Korean and English ― that have been widely cited as the main barrier for them adjusting to the South.

Choi Yu-kang, CEO of Dream Touch For All / Courtesy of Dream Touch For All

According to a 2016 study by the Korea Development Institute (KDI), 40 percent of the 2.95 million North Korean defectors in South Korea were students in their 20s, 10 percent of whom were enrolled in a university. And although affirmative action policies here make it relatively easier for them to get into universities, most of them struggle. Their dropout rate is significantly higher than that of their South Korean peers. Estimates go as high as over 50 percent according to a 2012 report by the New York Times; KDI’s research showed 30 percent had dropped out or took time off from school ― the most cited reason was difficulties with the English language. Getting used to the Korean language used here is also a challenge, as the two Koreas have grown apart in their use of dialect, terminology and expressions over the past several decades. And most of those who have defected from the North are from the lower social rungs, with at most a few years of elementary school education and hence it is a struggle to catch up with their cohorts who for years have experienced the extremely competitive educational environment here.

To address these issues, “Dream Touch For All” has geared its programs around helping them overcome the language barrier. Its work with North Korean defectors began coincidentally in 2013, its CEO and founder Choi Yu-kang told the Korea Times. “I met one student who had fled the North and this led to us hosting a summer camp for student defectors," he said. Choi talked about the first day at the camp, when a volunteer stood up and talked about a fleeting conversation he had with one of the students. “The student told the volunteer, jokingly, that no matter how hard they study, they will never be able to become like him, a student at a top-ranking university in Seoul. But then, the volunteer burst into tears and soon the whole floor was flooded with tears.” This, Choi said, served as a momentum that brought them together, helping them build mutual trust. And since then it has continued developing the language educational services geared toward North Korean defectors. "At first I was nervous and uncertain of how to help, as it wasn’t in the plan,” Choi said. But he soon realized that language was the area they needed most help on, which would not only help them to get into universities but also thrive there.

Toward this end, the organization provides afterschool English lessons at Yeomyung School, in central Seoul, which consists of student defectors aged between 14 and 28. To make this more effective, they have also developed an English textbook that can be readily understood by the group. “Many North Korean students have a gap in their education, as a result of defecting. The materials need to be easy enough, but that is also appropriate for adults, as to make it accessible for older students as well,” Choi explained. The textbook will be donated to other schools and institutions that work with defectors from North Korea.

But the ultimate goal, Choi said, is to nurture the students into leaders. “We do not just deliver knowledge, but we coach them and lead them to have a mindset that can induce growth.” This is a justice issue, he said, as students from North Korea as well as from disadvantaged backgrounds in the South have far less chance of economically succeeding in life. “Although the focus is on the academics, we never tell the students which school they should get into or what grades they need to get. We compliment them for putting in effort; we tell them that they are our future. With such a mindset, they can continue to grow wherever they go.”