ID :
52625
Sat, 03/28/2009 - 08:49
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/52625
The shortlink copeid
NK defectors-adjustment support
SEOUL, March 27 (Yonhap) -- A community center for North Korean defectors opened in Seoul on Friday to help them adjust to life in the capitalist South and provide job search services and access to medical care.
All North Korean defectors who enter South Korea currently must go through a
12-week resettlement training program in a state-run center south of Seoul called
Hanawon. But surveys suggest the program is not enough to help them learn how to
function in a drastically different society.
To respond to their need for continued support, the Unification Ministry launched
a project to build scores of community centers for defectors across the country
over the next three years. The Hana Center, which opened in the capital's
northern Nowon District -- one of a few areas densely populated by North Korean
defectors -- marks the beginning of that effort.
"Your resettlement process is a test for us with regard to how much we are ready
for reunification. Your success is not only your personal issue, but will lay the
groundwork for the South and the North to become one," Unification Minister Hyun
In-taek said in an opening ceremony.
The community center provides a three-week adjustment program to help defectors
find work and medical services and provides counseling. Tutors are also available
for their children.
More than 15,000 people from North Korea have settled in the South, with about
3,000 more expected to come this year. Even though language is one barrier the
newcomers do not have to deal with, surveys show they still struggle to adjust
and are mostly sidelined from the mainstream society. A recent survey
commissioned by the Unification Ministry indicated that North Korean defectors
working in South Korea earn less than a third of the average monthly income of
their South Korean counterparts.
The newcomers earned an average of 937,000 won (US$696) per person a month,
compared with the 2.9 million won the average South Korean employee receives.
Jong Hyon-jong, a defector who came to Seoul in 2002, said finding a job is the
hardest for people like her. She said all 11 gas stations in the Nowon District
she went to find work rejected her.
"They ask for a resume, and I tell them I'm a North Korean defector. This single
sentence ruins everything," said Jong, who now works as a tour guide. "We North
Koreans want to stand on our own, rather than live on taxpayers' money, and do
our duty as citizens of this country."
Two more community centers for defectors will open in Bucheon, south of Seoul in
Gyeonggi Province, and the southeastern city of Daegu later this year. The
service will be expanded nationwide by 2011, ministry officials said.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
All North Korean defectors who enter South Korea currently must go through a
12-week resettlement training program in a state-run center south of Seoul called
Hanawon. But surveys suggest the program is not enough to help them learn how to
function in a drastically different society.
To respond to their need for continued support, the Unification Ministry launched
a project to build scores of community centers for defectors across the country
over the next three years. The Hana Center, which opened in the capital's
northern Nowon District -- one of a few areas densely populated by North Korean
defectors -- marks the beginning of that effort.
"Your resettlement process is a test for us with regard to how much we are ready
for reunification. Your success is not only your personal issue, but will lay the
groundwork for the South and the North to become one," Unification Minister Hyun
In-taek said in an opening ceremony.
The community center provides a three-week adjustment program to help defectors
find work and medical services and provides counseling. Tutors are also available
for their children.
More than 15,000 people from North Korea have settled in the South, with about
3,000 more expected to come this year. Even though language is one barrier the
newcomers do not have to deal with, surveys show they still struggle to adjust
and are mostly sidelined from the mainstream society. A recent survey
commissioned by the Unification Ministry indicated that North Korean defectors
working in South Korea earn less than a third of the average monthly income of
their South Korean counterparts.
The newcomers earned an average of 937,000 won (US$696) per person a month,
compared with the 2.9 million won the average South Korean employee receives.
Jong Hyon-jong, a defector who came to Seoul in 2002, said finding a job is the
hardest for people like her. She said all 11 gas stations in the Nowon District
she went to find work rejected her.
"They ask for a resume, and I tell them I'm a North Korean defector. This single
sentence ruins everything," said Jong, who now works as a tour guide. "We North
Koreans want to stand on our own, rather than live on taxpayers' money, and do
our duty as citizens of this country."
Two more community centers for defectors will open in Bucheon, south of Seoul in
Gyeonggi Province, and the southeastern city of Daegu later this year. The
service will be expanded nationwide by 2011, ministry officials said.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
