Korea Herald
2/10/2007
What was once a trickle of defectors from North Korea has now become a steady stream, forcing the South Korean government to reexamine how it handles settlers from its communist neighbor.
Gone are the days when defectors were given a hero’s welcome, used as propaganda to demonstrate the failure of the totalitarian communist system, and given large sums of money as a reward. These days, news of individual defectors hardly receives any attention, and without much fanfare their numbers have been growing rapidly. The number of defectors who arrived in the South totaled 148 in 1999. Last year, more than 2,000 North Koreans settled in the South. By the end of this month, the total number of North Korean settlers here is expected to reach 10,000.
To deal with the prospect of a surge in the number North Korean defectors in the future, as food shortages and poverty continues to ravage that country, the South Korean government has revamped its settlement policy. By cutting its one-time settlement aid from 10 million won to 6 million won and increasing job subsidies to a total of 15 million won spread over a three-year period, the government is hoping to encourage the settlers to seek gainful employment rather than relying on government support.
For the new settlers, life in the capitalist South is harsh. Many of those who risked their lives to escape hunger and poverty, live in a state of poverty even in the South. Three months of training at a settlement center is insufficient to equip these people for our highly competitive capitalist society.
Some settlers are cheated out of their settlement awards and end up alcoholic and destitute. Most of the settlers are semi-skilled laborers, making it difficult for them to find permanent jobs. Difficulties in finding employment are exacerbated by prejudices harbored by South Koreans who perceive North Koreans as lazy and unmotivated.
According to a report by the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights which surveyed 1,336 settlers over the age of 13 who arrived between 1997 and 2004, more than 28 percent of the settlers are unemployed, significantly higher than the national average of 3.5 percent as of the end of last year. Of those who are employed, about 78 percent earn 1 million won or less a month.
To assist the North Korean settlers in seeking employment, the Unification Ministry and the Labor Ministry plans to jointly set up an individual job plan system. Employment subsidies, paid to businesses that hire North Koreans to cover 50 percent of their wage, will be extended to three years from the current two years.
However, government policies can only go so far in assisting North Korean settlers to make a life in the South. In a society that harbors regional prejudices even within its own borders, the discrimination suffered by North Koreans who speak with a different accent and who may still be regarded as an enemy must be enormous.
As much as the settlers need training to adjust to a new way of life here, South Koreans also need to receive sensitivity training on how to deal with the North Korean settlers. Understanding each other will go a long way toward helping the settlers become full, productive members of this society.
Government to raise subsidies for defectors here
Joong ang Daily
2/9/2007
South Korea will nearly double the amount of cash incentives that North Korean defectors receive after working here for one year, the Unification Ministry said yesterday.
Under the plan, the government will grant a total of 15 million won ($16,040) to defectors over a three-year period after they are registered on an employer’s payroll for one year. Previously, defectors received 9 million won over three years.
“The incentive is designed to increase support for North Korean defectors who are trying hard to adapt to South Korean society,” said Kim Joong-tae, chief of the social and cultural exchange bureau at the ministry.
Since 2005, Korea has reduced its cash payment to defectors to 10 million won from 28 million won per one-person household.
Under the new plan, which considers the rise in rental fees, the housing subsidy will be increased to 13 million won per one-person household from the current 10 million won, while the cash subsidy will be further cut to 6 million won, he said.
The total number of North Korean defectors to the South since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War will likely top the 10,000 mark sometime this year, according to government data.
When heavy floods hit North Korea in the mid-1990s, the annual number of North Korean defectors reached double digits. In 1999, the number swelled to a triple-digit level. In 2006, as many as 1,578 defectors arrived in the South, a rise from the previous record of 1,139 in 2002, according to the data.
About 9,700 North Koreans have been resettled in the South after finishing procedures and obtaining government identification, while some 300 are now receiving adaptive education at a state-run institute. More than 500 defectors are currently believed to be in the custody of South Korean embassies or consulates in Thailand, Mongolia and other countries.
In 2000, the leaders of the two Koreas held the first-ever summit since the end of the Korean War. The war ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty, meaning the two Koreas are still technically in a state of war.
