Ahlam Lee - North Korean Defectors in a New and Competitive Society: Issues and Challenges in Resettlement, Adjustment, and the Learning Process

North Korean Defectors in a New and Competitive Society

North Korean Defectors in a New and Competitive Society

Issues and Challenges in Resettlement, Adjustment, and the Learning Process

Ahlam Lee

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Contents

Preface

The fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 symbolized the end of the Cold Warthe ideological tension between the Soviet Union/Communist Eastern Europe and the United States/Western Capitalist countries. Following the fall of the Berlin Wall, East and West Germany were reunified in 1990 and the Soviet Union and communist Eastern Europe collapsed in 1991. Since then, it has seemed that the polarization between communism and capitalism has begun to thaw. However, unfortunately, such ideological tension still persists in the contemporary world, as evidenced by the division of the Korean peninsula.

After more than six decades of geographical and ideological division there, the economic and cultural gaps between the two nations have widened substantially. North Korea, which is sustained by communism, extreme nationalism, and totalitarianism, remains one of the poorest, as well as one of the most closed, countries in the world. In contrast, South Korea, which has pursued free market capitalism, globalization, and democracy, is now one of the wealthiest and most developed countries in the world. Critically, the dissolution of the Soviet Union and Eastern communist countries in 1991 led to the termination of North Koreas economic aid and partnerships, which had a substantial influence on the massive famine there in the mid-1990s. The famine led many North Koreans to flee their country in order to search for food, seek freedom, and find a better life.

Escaping from North Korea is a treacherous journey. Due to its geographical proximity to China, most North Koreans attempt to escape their country by crossing the border into China. However, the Chinese government views these defectors as illegal economic migrants rather than refugees. As such, North Korean defectors (hereafter, NK defectors) have to hide in China prior to moving to countries that are willing to grant them refugee status. Because of their vulnerable status in China, NK defectors are subjected to various human rights abuses. Most defectorsnearly 90% of whom are womenexperience such abuses as human trafficking, forced labor, sexual assault, forced prostitution, rape, and forced marriage. Yet, such violations of the human rights of these NK defectors have received little attention. If caught by the Chinese police, NK defectors are repatriated forcibly to North Korea, where they face torture during interrogation, forced abortion, imprisonment, and even execution. Under the international human rights and refugee law, NK defectors are considered refugees who require international protection. However, the Chinese government does not follow this law, although it is a party to the UN Refugee Convention.

Russia (the former Soviet Union), another country that borders North Korea, has shown inconsistent attitudes towards North Koreans seeking asylum there, and has asserted that it does not repatriate NK defectors forcibly. Based on some official reports that North Koreans seeking asylum in Russia have arrived in free countries, it has been believed widely that the Russian government is more generous to NK defectors than is the Chinese government. However, compared to the small number of these incidents, a much larger number of NK defectors who have sought asylum in Russia, in fact, have been repatriated forcibly to North Korea. Thus, Russia is also not a safe country for NK defectors to seek asylum.

The UN General Assembly passed a resolution in late 2014with 116 votes in favor, 20 against, and 53 abstentionsthat recommended the UN Security Council submit the North Korean case to the International Criminal Court (ICC). In spite of concerted action by almost two-thirds of Member States in the UN General Assembly, a closer look at the voting suggests that more than one-third of Member States in the Assembly voted against or abstained. Moreover, as veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council, China and Russia, who have historically objected to inclusion of North Koreas human rights issues on its official agenda, are likely to veto referring North Koreas leadership to the ICC. Consequently, it is unlikely that North Korea will be referred to the ICC.

Sadly, not all governments in our world are willing to help defenseless North Koreans who are desperate to find freedom in China or elsewhere. For example, in May 2013, Laos repatriated 9 orphaned North Korean youth. Even in South Korea, North Korean human rights issues have been treated as a political matter rather than a matter of humanity. Several politicians who belong to the left-wing progressive parties in South Korea are reluctant to criticize human rights violations against NK defectors and draw attention to the difficult lives of North Koreans, believing that such condemnation would irritate the North Korean regime and worsen the relationship between the two Koreas. As a result of the disparity in attitudes toward NK defectors, little attention has been paid to their stories, and this has led to increased prejudice and discrimination against them when they attempt to integrate into a new society.

In contrast to the lack of attention to North Koreas human rights violations, greater focus has been given to the subject of its nuclear weapons programs. Because of concerns for national security, China and Russia have been very cooperative in persuading North Korea to halt development of nuclear weapons. Also, unlike its human rights issues, North Koreas nuclear weapons issues have been discussed several times by the UN Security Council. However, China and Russia should keep in mind that North Koreas nuclear weapons issues are linked closely to its human rights violations, because money has been spent on the development of nuclear weapons while its citizens have continued to suffer from starvation and poverty. Since the great famine, several countries, including the US, China, and South Korea, have sent food aid to starving North Koreans through the UN World Programme (WFP). However, according to the book entitled, Witness to Transformation Refugee Insights into North Korea, by Haggard and Noland (2011), most ordinary NK defectors knew nothing about such aid when they were searching for food during the great famine. On the other hand, army and high-level government officials, who were not subject to starvation, were the major recipients of the aid. Moreover, under the Sunshine Policy (19982007), the South Korean government provided a huge amount of financial aid to North Korea in order to build a peaceful relationship, and boost the economic and cultural exchange between the two nations. However, during this time, North Korea developed nuclear weapons, focused on strengthening its military, and even attacked South Korea twice at the Northern Limit Line near Yeonpyeong Island in the Yellow Sea.