On November 15, a North Korean defector known as Mr. A was caught while trying to re-enter North Korea in Yeoncheon County, Gyeonggi Province. Following the incident, the relevant government departments including the police and the Ministry of Unification have made statements urging more proactive approaches toward helping defectors experiencing difficulties in settling down.
According to the police and the military, Mr. A was caught on CCTV near a fence under the jurisdiction of the 25th Division of Yeoncheon Province in the afternoon of November 15, and was arrested by a dispatched force. The military handed Mr. A over to the police as he is a civilian.
Mr. A is known to have defected from North Korea in 2001 and settled in South Korea. He is married to a female North Korean defector and had been working as an assistant driver of a forklift while living in Ulsan. During the police interrogation, he is reported to have said that as he was suffering from economic hardship and his marital relations had broken down, he wished to re-enter North Korea under the belief that life across the border would be better for him.
Regarding the incident, a police spokesperson told Daily NK on November 16 that, “Within the police force, there is the opinion that we need to take this incident as an opportunity to improve coordination between the government departments in charge of helping defectors settle in, including the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and the Ministry of Unification. We will increase our efforts to help those defectors who are having difficulty in settling down in South Korea.”
“This is a very unusual case because prior attempts to re-enter North Korea have mostly occurred by going through China, but this time it was attempted near the DMZ,” a spokesperson said, adding that, “Some (other) defectors are also showing signs of attempts to re-enter North Korea, but preventing such actions is not easy as it is difficult to acquire accurate evidence.”
The Ministry of Unification released a statement noting that it will take the case of Mr. A as an opportunity to re-evaluate the current defector settlement system and improve conditions for defectors resettling in local communities.
“First of all, as the Ministry of Unification is the primary department responsible for supporting the settlement of defectors, we express deep regret for the current incident. We will improve the support measures for defectors so that no one will feel the need to return to North Korea in the future,” an official from the Ministry of Unification said.
“The Ministry is planning a ‘social integration system’, a new defector settlement system to be launched this month. As the new system focuses on enhancing self-reliance amongst defectors, it is expected to reduce financial hardship among the defector community,” the official said.
“The Ministry of Unification is dispatching counselors and assistants across the country to support defectors according to their unique circumstances. It will be difficult to manage every case, but we will try our best to listen to as many complaints as possible,” the official added.
