Life in capitalist South tough on North Koreans

By Alex Jensen

SEOUL

North Korean refugees become less happy the longer they live in South Korea, according to a survey made public Thursday by the state-run Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU).

The think tank asked 240 defectors from the authoritarian North how satisfied they were in their new home, with those who had been in South Korea more than a decade rating their lives lower on a four-point scale than their newly-arrived counterparts -- at 2.73 versus 2.99.

The poll showed that the most satisfied refugees were those who had been in the South between four and six years, as they averaged a score of 3.07.

KINU researcher Park Ju-hwa’s report blamed the long-term downturn in satisfaction on unfulfilled economic expectations in a tough South Korean job market.

Escapees from the North are immediately at an academic disadvantage in the South, which is notorious for arduous after-school education programs that feed competitiveness into adulthood.

The lure of South Korea nevertheless continues to be a strong pull factor for North Koreans seeking refuge away from human rights abuses and a strict social system in which leader Kim Jong-un is both dictator and acting deity.

Seoul has recorded more than 28,000 arrivals from the North since the reclusive nation was struck by a major famine in the 1990s -- including just shy of 1,400 last year.

Although direct travel is severely limited between the Koreas, separated as they are by a border lined by thousands of troops on either side, North Koreans wishing to reach the South usually make an arduous journey through Pyongyang’s old ally China, which has a policy of forcibly repatriating defectors.

South Korea’s Ministry of Unification underlines on its website that it does do its bit to help North Korean refugees when they first arrive, providing them “with a variety of basic benefits to help them enjoy the freedom and human rights of South Korean society”.

First they must go through a three-month orientation at one of two closely-guarded Settlement Support Center for North Korean Refugees branches -- also known as Hanawon -- where they learn everything from how to use an ATM to the South’s version of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a ceasefire rather than a peace treaty.

While the government does also provide financial and career support to help their ongoing settlement, North Korean refugees have clearly struggled for acceptance -- leading some to the unthinkable.

Seoul has officially acknowledged just over a dozen defectors who have returned to the North, but the figure is generally believed to be significantly higher.