The past year has seen a number of milestones for the North Korean defector community in South Korea. Events are being held regularly to increase awareness of women’s rights and to share defector stories. Hanawon, a facility that assists defectors in settling into South Korea after their arrival, recently celebrated its 235th graduating class. However, for those who graduate from the Hanawon program, the years that follow can be a challenging time filled with successes and failures.
Despite the fact that many in South Korea’s defector community have trouble adapting to their new surroundings, the South’s defector assistance programs have not received significant improvements since the 1990s. Some aspects have been revised over the years, but it can be argued that the revision process has only served to make things more difficult.
A 2015 law establishing the “Future Happiness Savings Account” program is an example of a policy misstep for defector assistance. Under the program, the government supposedly matches savings from wages deposited into these special accounts, in the hopes of increasing the assets of defectors. The problem was that to balance the accounting, an employment assistance program that helped defectors to find jobs was terminated.
Finding a job is arguably one of the biggest challenges for defectors, and success depends largely upon the kind of employment they can get. With fewer resources at their disposal, many are finding it difficult to gain employment in the first place, and therefore cannot reap the rewards of the savings aid program.
Other obstacles exist as well, particularly for defectors who arrive from the North with advanced professional and technical work experience. The majority of these defectors (around 1,200 according to Ministry of Unification statistics) are unable to find corresponding work in the South. Teachers make up the largest fraction, but they usually settle for ‘coordinator’ positions in charge of assisting younger defector students in public schools.
Those who worked as doctors and nurses in the North often face additional hurdles when trying to attain new medical licenses, leading most to turn to nurse’s assistant positions instead. The long educational process makes certification difficult, leading many to abandon the process altogether and settle for lower positions.
Those defectors with professional work experience can serve in extremely valuable roles during and after the transition to unification. It is imperative that South Korea establish a plan to harness their potential in preparation for the future.
To this end, the National Assembly and other government organs should begin work to actively help defectors with professional backgrounds find positions commensurate with their experience. Teachers, doctors, nurses, engineers, and others should no longer be prevented from a smooth transition to working in their field of expertise in South Korea.
Improving assistance towards defectors with professional experience is the necessary first step towards supporting a demographic that will contribute greatly to the development of post-unification Korea.
※This article was made possible in part by funding from the Korea Press Foundation
