[imText1]The North Korean defectors in South Korea show emotional instability. A diagnosis was made that the main cause is human rights abuses and lack of human respect prevalent in North Korea.
On January 23rd, Yoo Shi Eun, the chief consultant of a “Beautiful Life”, which is a medical aid organization for defectors’ settlement in South Korea, made a diagnosis in a seminar (under auspices of GongLyung welfare center) held at YonSei University that “most of the defectors showed symptoms such as▲ social adaptation stress ▲ physical awareness problem (awareness that they have an unsound body) ▲ depression ▲ instability ▲ paranoia ▲ character disorder.
Yoo, the chief psychological consultant, claimed, “The defectors in South Korea especially suffer seriously from character disorder, instability derived from experiences in the suppressed North Korean society and paranoia, so a psychical soundness- supporting policy is urgently needed.”
Yoo analyzed that, “The main cause of the character disorder is to have undergone in the past human rights abuses, unsatisfied desires cumulated from childhood and a weekly gathering (Chonghwa), which have prevailed in North Korea.” He added that, “The character disorder is expressed as aggressive and violent actions.”
Regarding the paranoia symptoms, he pointed out that, “In North Korea, the mutually accusing system like the weekly gathering (Chonghwa) was highly advanced, so that fundamentally the North Koreans do not trust others.” Besides that, he stated, “The defectors who had lived under the strict monitoring system are too psychologically unstable to make normal relationships with others.” Also, he claimed that, “Because they do not know who the agents from the National Security Agency are, they live unstably so that they do not talk about their real thoughts.”
Yoo made another diagnosis that, “Many of the defectors show the instability symptoms derived from starvation, hardship of life, death of their family, lifelong separation and extreme horror they went through during the defecting process and during their lives in North Korea,” adding that, “The instability seems to be a symptom of stress coming after external injuries in the defecting process.”
Currently, the aid towards the defectors is usually provided economically. In such a situation, a great deal of attention is being paid to regarding what effects the emotional instability have in working as an obstacle against their social adaptation.
Kim SunHwa, the director of GongLyung welfare center, stated that, “In the process of settlement, the defectors show so much psychological instability so that they receive the psychically pathological diagnosis.”
Jung dong moon, the chief of the settlement-supporting department in the Ministry of Unification, participating in the seminar, presented his opinion, saying that, “The government policies supporting the defectors have been central to the materials. However, from now on, they should support the defectors by helping them to stand on their own feet by developing a model of supporting a sound mind through cooperation with private organizations.
