[imText1]As more than 7,000 North Koreans have resettled in South Korea, the issue of North Koreans’ maladjustment to South Korean society is nothing new.
The most serious problem is on family issues, such as divorce with a spouse in North Korea. North Koreans receive South Korean citizenship and Resident Registration Number according to ‘Legislation to Protect Dislocated North Koreans’ and Article 3 (Article on Territory) of Constitution. However, family issues are not properly dealt with as of now.
The disparity between the reality and South Korean law can be observed through a situation of North Korean defector living in Incheon.
Mr. Kim Young (North Korean defector, 38) in Man Soo Dong, Incheon, has been trying to get a legal divorce with a wife in North Korea in vain. It is not possible. He asks a reporter, “Which citizenship do North Koreans have?”. Following is a summary of interview with Mr. Kim.
– Did you confirm if your wife is alive?
Yes. She is living in North Korea. In 2000, I went to China in order to make money, because I felt like I was going to starve to death. However, the situation was not easy. I needed to hide from Chinese Police, and I was not paid because I was a North Korean defector. I was deceived and lost all the money that I had. For this reason, I lost in touch with my life for three years.
In August 2003, I came to South Korea after all the hardship, and I was able to contact my family in North Korea. I sent the resettlement money to my family in order to bring them to South Korea.
-Why couldn’t you bring your wife to South Korea?
(Sigh) My brother told me later that she married someone else. She thought I was dead after losing touch with me when I went to China. I think she married someone else because she at least needed to eat when the situation was hard. She would not have a gall to come to South Korea. I heard that she left the children to my mother.
– Can’t you have a new beginning in South Korea?
That is why I decided to get a divorce. But I realized that North Koreans can’t legally get a divorce with a wife in North Korea. I need to go through a procedure to get an ‘a divorce by agreement’, but realistically, I cannot bring my wife to South Korea. That is why I am trying so hard to find a way to go through a procedure for ‘divorce by the court’.
– Is there a relevant legislation?
There is nowhere that I have not tried in three years. I called National Human Rights Commission, International Legislation Judiciary Committee, and Unification, Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee, and they repeat that divorce issue is under discussion.
The Court is confused about how to approach the problem of divorce for North Koreans. Legislation Judiciary Committee at the National Assembly says ‘legislation for divorce of citizens overseas’ needs to be applied for the divorce of North Koreans.
-Like Chinese or Vietnamese in terms of applying ‘legislation for divorce of citizens overseas’?
Are North Koreans foreigners? We are South Korean citizens once we came to South Korea. North Koreans who committed crimes are treated with domestic law for the citizens, and divorce issue needs to be treated with domestic law for foreigners? I think divorce of North Koreans needs to be treated under Article 840 of Civil Law. According to Provision 5 of Article 840 of Civil Law, a lawsuit for divorce can be filed when ‘it has not been confirmed if the spouse is dead or alive for more than three years’ and Provision 6 says, ‘when there is an important issue which makes it impossible to stay in marriage’.
– Have you consulted a lawyer?
I heard only one person among several hundreds who filed a lawsuit appointed a lawyer and got a divorce. I consulted a lawyer after I heard the rumor, but it costs 5 million won to appoint a lawyer.
– Do North Koreans who couldn’t get a divorce live alone?
Some live with North Korean women who they came with. However, when they have children, they can’t be registered under the father. The children become fatherless once they are born. They name the children with mother’s maiden name, but the court says it is not legal. ‘Abolition of Family Registry under Male Head’ is applied from 1 January 2008, but it is illegal as of now.
It Could Cause Maladjustment of North Koreans, And Other Negative Influence
Other negative effects appear. Mr. Kim who have been doing construction work for close to 3 years say, “There is no one at home when I go back. After eating Kimchi and rice, I could only fall a sleep with alcohol”.
The issue of maladjustment of North Koreans was brought to light by media with an one person protest by Yoo Tae Jun (37) in June 2004. He asked “to be returned to General Kim Jong Il”. The main actor of such ‘strange behavior’, Mr. Yoo Tae Jun was imprisoned for 20 months at the National Security Office when he went back to North Korea to bring his wife out.
As the number of North Koreans resettled in South Korea increases, other negative effects can’t be excluded from consideration. North Koreans who are not resettled in a family along with problems of getting a job and psychological instability, are exhausting away both physically and mentally with smoking and drinking.
Although they desired to seek freedom, it is true that entrance into South Korea does not automatically mean success. It can lead to discontent toward society when they fail to resettle in South Korea with difficulties in family, brutal reality in capitalist society and unfriendly treatment of others.
North Koreans seek success in resettlement in having stable family. It is an urgent issue to have a responsive legislation to support North Korean defectors based on reality.
