Children of defectors born in third countries face discrimination, legal blind spots
![A 21-year-old daughter of North Korean defectors born in a third country, Kim Min-young — a pseudonym — washes dishes at a galbi restaurant. She left China in April 2023 and now lives in South Korea with her mother and younger brother. [JOONGANG ILBO]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/07/23/6a2f62b4-b843-4a3a-b71e-073900b64854.jpg)
A 21-year-old daughter of North Korean defectors born in a third country, Kim Min-young — a pseudonym — washes dishes at a galbi restaurant. She left China in April 2023 and now lives in South Korea with her mother and younger brother. [JOONGANG ILBO]
Kim Min-young — a pseudonym — is a 22-year-old woman who arrived in South Korea just a year ago. She is the daughter of a North Korean defector.
Kim's mother fled North Korea and settled in China, where she married a Chinese national and gave birth to Kim and her brother.
After years of living in China's northeastern Liaoning Province under constant fear of repatriation, Kim's mother finally arrived in South Korea when Kim was 17. It then took three years for her mother to bring Kim and her brother to South Korea, during which time their father passed away from cancer.
However, Kim's "Korean dream" quickly became a harsh reality.
While South Korea recognizes North Korean defectors and their children as Korean nationals, according to the North Korean Defectors Protection and Settlement Support Act in 1997, defector status is only given to those who cross the border directly from North Korea and have a registered address there.
This means that Kim's mother is eligible for the subsidies and protections South Korea provides to defectors, but Kim, born in China, is not.
![North Korean defectors' children born in third countries attend a class taught by Principal Yoon Dong-joo at Wooridul School, an alternative school in Gwanak District, southern Seoul. [JOONGANG ILBO]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/07/23/cbddd0a2-fbec-4dc4-b839-4e1a7e6fb61a.jpg)
North Korean defectors' children born in third countries attend a class taught by Principal Yoon Dong-joo at Wooridul School, an alternative school in Gwanak District, southern Seoul. [JOONGANG ILBO]
This legal discrepancy creates a gaping blind spot in the welfare system.
Exclusion and efforts to adapt
Typically, North Koreans who defect directly to South Korea receive 10 million won ($7,250) in initial settlement funds for a single household and up to 26 million won for households with four defector members.
However, children of defectors born in third countries, like Kim, are not included.
Defector parents can receive additional support of 4.5 million won per child under 16 years old, but this also excludes Kim, who was 21 at the time of her arrival in South Korea.
"I feel neglected by both Korea and China," Kim said.
Kim does not qualify for housing subsidies, either.
While the government provides 20 million won for households of two to four members, they received only 16 million won because only Kim's mother has defector status.
Kim's family currently resides in a small 42-square-meter rental house.
Under the current system, many families with four to five members live in single-unit rental apartments.
Additionally, North Korean defectors' children born abroad are excluded from tuition support and opportunities for special admission to colleges provided to those born in North Korea.
Despite the lack of government support, Kim is finding ways to learn Korean.
She voluntarily attends Wooridul School, an alternative school for North Korean defectors in Seoul, supported by the Korea Hana Foundation under the Ministry of Unification.
Although the school is two hours away from her home in Incheon, she says she is "just happy and relieved to at least attend an alternative school."
She studies Korean and English from Monday to Wednesday and works six hours a day on the other days.
A 20-year-old son of a North Korean defector, using the pseudonym Park Jang-gun, is in a similar situation.
Park arrived in South Korea in 2016 from China. Yet, he still struggles with basic communication skills due to a lack of governmental support.
He now lives in a one-room apartment with his Chinese father after his mother remarried another man in Korea.
"My sick father earns a daily wage while I support myself with part-time jobs and study at the same time," Park said.
In May, the Unification Ministry announced that it would push to provide educational support for North Korean defectors' children born in third countries. The government plans to establish legal foundations to offer this support.
![Students at Yeomyung School, an alternative school for North Korean defectors in Gangseo District, western Seoul, participate in a counseling program. [JOONGANG ILBO]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/07/23/c3e8445a-2917-4692-917d-d09792f37543.jpg)
Students at Yeomyung School, an alternative school for North Korean defectors in Gangseo District, western Seoul, participate in a counseling program. [JOONGANG ILBO]
Discrimination
However, beyond the lack of educational support from the government, these children also suffer discrimination and bullying from fellow students.
"I wish people didn't discriminate," said the 19-year-old daughter of a North Korean defector, using the pseudonym Park Soo-young, who said she was bullied at previous regular schools and had to transfer to Yeomyung School, another alternative school for North Korean defectors and their children in Gangseo District, western Seoul.
As of last year, 71 percent of elementary, middle and high school students from North Korean defector households were born in third countries.
Many of these children have faced discrimination in school.
"After classmates at the previous school realized I was from a different country and older than them, they started treating me differently," Park said. "They started picking fights with me."
The language barrier makes it more challenging to communicate with fellow students.
Most defector's children born in third countries have a North Korean defector mother and a Chinese father. Typically, these children arrive in South Korea with their mothers at a young age, or their mothers arrive first, with their children joining later, making Korean their second language.
Park said she had difficulty catching up in the regular education system due to her broken Korean.
"I couldn't communicate with classmates," she said.
Another daughter of a North Korean defector who goes by the pseudonym Lee Jeong-ah, 18, also said she faced difficulties at school due to language.
"I could not keep up with the assigned roles" in previous schools, Lee said. "Classmates criticized me for not doing things correctly."
"Students often face bullying because they can't speak Korean fluently and for being born in China," said the head of Yeomyung School.
![Twenty-four-year-old Lee Seung-min, a pseudonym, works part-time in a Chinese restaurant. He left China last June and now lives in South Korea with his father. [JOONGANG ILBO]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/07/23/a8394977-79b9-4b77-9721-a98b15cdc631.jpg)
Twenty-four-year-old Lee Seung-min, a pseudonym, works part-time in a Chinese restaurant. He left China last June and now lives in South Korea with his father. [JOONGANG ILBO]
More challenges for boys
Sons of North Korean defectors born abroad face the additional challenge of mandatory military service.
While defectors born in North Korea are typically exempt from military service due to potential difficulties in integrating into South Korean society, this leniency does not extend to those born in third countries.
Arriving in South Korea from China last June, the 24-year-old son of a North Korean defector, who goes by the pseudonym Lee Seung-min, received a notice to enlist in the army in Gwangju next month.
Lee, who couldn't even undergo the pre-enlistment medical exam without his mother's help, now worries about coping well in the army.
"Commands will be in Korean, and I'm afraid I won't understand them," Lee said.
In response to his concerns, the Korean Military Manpower Administration said the inability to speak Korean does not constitute grounds for exemption from service.
"Those who believe they will have difficulties joining can request to delay their enlistment date," it said.
Mixed public opinions
A recent survey by the Korea Institute for National Unification from April 4 to 11, involving 500 native-born South Koreans and 500 North Korean defectors, revealed contrasting views on settlement funds.
Among North Korean defectors, 78.1 percent supported the expansion of settlement funds. In contrast, 48.6 percent of nationals believed that the current level of support should be maintained, which is twice the percentage of those who advocated for the expansion of support.
July 14 marked the first North Korean Defectors' Day, commemorating the day the North Korean Defectors Protection and Settlement Support Act went into effect in 1997. The law provides the legal basis for recognizing defector status and supporting defectors.
At the inaugural ceremony of the Korean Defectors' Day held at the Blue House's Yeongbingwan in central Seoul, President Yoon Suk Yeol pledged to exert all diplomatic efforts to prevent the forced repatriation of North Korean defectors.
Yoon said protecting North Korean defectors, "our citizens," is the "state's fundamental duty."
BY CHUNG YEONG-GYO, LEE YOO-JUNG, WOO JI-WON [woo.jiwon@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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