hankyoreh

The tenth anniversary commemoration ceremony at the Settlement Support Center for North Korean Refugees

The South Korean government announced plans to shift the focus of its North Korean defector support policy from protection and settlement assistance to social services and integration.

The move is intended to mark a new era with over 30,000 defectors now living in the South. The plans include increased occupational and entrepreneurial education from the early settlement stages, along with gradual increases in settlement funds and housing support. Other plans involves expanding hiring of defectors by the government and elsewhere in the public sector and strengthening linkages between defectors and their local communities.

The Ministry of Unification announced the plans on Nov. 27 as part of a finalized improvement plan for “socially integrative” settlement assistance policies for North Korean defectors. As of Nov. 21, the number of defectors living in South Korea passed 30,021, including 1,227 who arrived this year.

In concrete terms, the plans involve introducing an education system for “long-term lifestyle design” at the Settlement Support Center for North Korean Refugees, or Hanawon, which is the initial gateway for defectors arriving in the South.

“We are developing the new program so that defectors can receive expert assistance in designing a path over the course of their life - including higher education, employment, marriage, and finances - in a way that’s suited to their individual aptitude, education level, and other capabilities,” explained a ministry official.

The government also plans to set up a separate professional training center at Hanawon’s main branch in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, at a cost of 6.3 billion won (US$5.4 million). But with an already dense 12-week basic education schedule at Hanawon - which includes 392 hours of regular instruction and 364 hours of autonomous supplementary education - some fine-tuning of the curriculum appears inevitable.

To provide stability at the earliest stages of settlement, which tend to be the toughest, gradual increases for inflation and other factors are also planned for settlement and housing support payments, which are currently 7 million won (US$5,960) and 13 million won (US$11,060) per person, respectively. The last increases in the two funds came in 2013 and 2007, respectively.

According to figures from Statistics Korea and other sources, the employment rate for defectors last year stood at just 54.6%, compared to a national average of 60.3%. Over half of defectors hired last year had positions in basic labor (29.8%) or service (28.1%). At around 1.54 million won (US$1,310), their average income fell far short of the national average of 2.29 million won (US$1,950). The gap also explains why the government plans to expand and bolster professional education opportunities for defectors.

“We‘re planning to offer more specialized educational opportunities through increased participation in the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry human resources development project team’s professional training program and the Small and Medium Business Administration‘s support program for people starting their own businesses,” said a Unification Ministry official.

Hiring by the central and local governments and public institutions is also to be increased to provide more opportunities for defectors to establish their careers. Plans include efforts by related agencies and institutions to find appropriate jobs for defectors and the use of defector employment rates by central administration agencies when assessing local governments.

Support measures have also been developed for defector children born in third countries, who were previously excluded from assistance. Plans include additional payments for child rearing and preferential admission to universities within their enrollment cap. Calls for a change in policy had been ongoing since the percentage of defector children born in third countries rose from just 36.2% in 2011 to 50.5% (1,249 children) in 2015 - more than the 1,226 defectors that year actually born in North Korea.

Additional support is planned to help defectors establish networks with “veterans” and local residents to hear about settlement experiences and advice from the Hanawon education stage to early employment and university admission. One plan involves expanding the number of former North Korean teachers working as “coordinators” for defector students in schools. In terms of defector policy cooperation systems between agencies, the government also plans to expand and reorganize the vice minister-level North Korean Defector Countermeasures Council into a ministerial-level North Korean Defector Social Integration Committee.

By Jung In-hwan, staff reporter

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