South Korean NGOs Respond to the North Korean Refugee Crisis

People forced from their homes, whether by political conflicts, discrimination, or economic hardships, are among the world's most vulnerable populations. There have been three kinds of response to the crisis in South Korea. Some NGOs aim to raise worldwide awareness of the plight of refugees; others provide direct assistance to North Korean refugees in China; and a third group of NGOs help to resettle refugees who make their way to South Korea.

 

Famine Sparks a Refugee Crisis - In the mid-1990s, up to 3 million North Koreans died from starvation, while others escaped to neighboring China and Russia. International relief agencies, such as the World Food Program (WFP), UNICEF, and the Doctors Without Borders (MSF), provided humanitarian aid in North Korea.

 

Through the Public Distribution System, however, the North Korean government triaged food according to political loyalty and proximity to the capital, leaving people in the peripheral northern provinces at the mercy of fate. Most of the refugees who fled to China are from those northern provinces, which were most severely affected by the famine.

 

Life in China, however, brought new challenges. Under international convention, someone is a refugee if he or she, owing to the fear of persecution, is unwilling to return to the country of his or her nationality. But China, fearing the influx of refugees from North Korea, considers North Koreans within its borders "illegal economic migrants." Once caught, they are deported back to North Korea, where they face brutal treatments in concentration camps--under North Korean law, crossing the border is an act of treason. North Korean refugees are forcibly returned to North Korea by the hundreds every week.

 

As a result, North Koreans in China are stripped of protection by any government. The refugees, many of them women and children, are frequently captured by human traffickers at the border and are forced into marriage or prostitution. Many work illegally and suffer labor abuses. North Korean orphans roam the streets of bordering Chinese towns and make their living through begging and stealing. Children born to North Korean women have no nationality, even when their father is Chinese, and are denied access to education or health care.

 

Advocacy and Networking - Some South Korean NGOs have worked over the years to keep an international spotlight on the issue. From the mid-1990s and 2004, they called on the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to intervene. UNHCR's request to inspect the Chinese-North Korean border, however, was denied by the Chinese authorities. UNHCR has said that the agency is rendered powerless without the political will from member states, such as China and the U.S.

 

Since then, the momentum for advocacy has shifted to winning support from key states.

 

·         The Citizens' Alliance for North Korean Human Rights (NKHR) aims to mobilize the international community to focus on the issue. NKHR hosts annual international conferences, publishes bilingual periodicals, and runs a comprehensive bilingual website. In September 2006, NKHR submitted a proposal to the UN Security Council, which was signed by Vaclav Havel (former president of the Czech Republic), Kjell Magne Bondevik (former Prime Minister of Norway), and Elie Wiesel (Nobel Peace Prize Laureate).

 

·         The director of Helping Hands Korea, American reverend and long-term Korea resident Tim Peters, has testified at U.S. Congressional hearings in 2002, 2004, and 2005 on the suffering of North Korean refugees in China. Rev. Peters had also lobbied Congress to win the release of activists imprisoned in China for assisting North Korean refugees. His efforts were reflected in the North Korean Human Rights Act, which was unanimously approved in both the U.S. Senate and the House in 2004. The act provides humanitarian and legal assistance to North Korean refugees and nonprofit organizations working for them.

 

·         Other groups engage in public protests at home and abroad to draw attention to the issue.

 

"The Underground Railroad" - Some South Korean groups and activists help the refugees safely leave China, which also refuses to let refugees relocate to a safe third country. These activists run an underground network of safe houses in China, Thailand, and Cambodia, helping refugees to seek asylum in South Korea. Durihana Mission, a Seoul-based Christian NGO led by Rev. Chun Ki-won, is one such group. Unlike their counterparts who do advocacy, the Underground Railroad groups operate covertly, fearing political repercussions. Details of such journeys are vividly depicted in the award-winning documentary, Seoul Train (2004).

 

Resettlement - Today, there are an estimated 17,000 refugees living in South Korea. Roughly 20 percent of them are children and adolescents; many of them have undergone traumatic experiences during their escape, received little or no formal education during their time in China, and are simply unfamiliar with Korean society. Their successful resettlement in South Korea is a test for the reconciliation of the two nations, which have been separated by war and ideological differences for six decades. In recent years, South Korean civil society and government have been increasing efforts to strengthen the resettlement system.

 

Until now, resettlement assistance for North Koreans seeking asylum in the South consisted of a 2-month re-education in the state-run Hanawon Center, and an aid package that included a lump sum of money and a housing subsidy. Long-term assistance, such as education or job counseling, was not provided in a systematic manner. Educational prospects for North Koreans in South Korea are particularly grim. A survey reveals that almost half of North Korean adolescents in South Korea are not attending school, and, the dropout rate for those who enter the standard education system is ten times higher than their South Korean counterparts.

 

A handful of private institutions provide alternative schooling for young North Korean refugees, although they are still in short supply. For example, Yeomyung School is established and funded by a number of Christian churches; it offers short-term programs that can substitute for standard middle- and high-school education. Three-four School provides similar educational opportunities, and incorporates arts and music as a central program.

 

The South Korean government is adding momentum to these efforts. In January 2009, the National Assembly amended the existing Law on Protection and Resettlement Support for North Korean Defectors, increasing educational funding. At a policy discussion session on September 22, 2009, NGOs, scholars, and policymakers spoke on the topic of alternative education for North Korean adolescents, debating the challenges for their adjustment in the South and proposing the establishment of a boarding school that can provide extensive counseling and build a sense of community.

 

Rev. Chun Ki-won recently said, "Circumstances for the refugees have not improved much since the beginning of the decade." Yet, in the face of sometimes daunting obstacles, South Korean activists continue their hard work on behalf of North Korean refugees, helping refugees reach safety, building networks with international allies, and ensuring that the world does not forget. 

 

Hye Gi Shim is a graduate researcher for Asia Catalyst. Her reporting on the issue can be read in Chinese at www.yazhoudiaocha.com.