Two more community centers for N. Korean defectors open

SEOUL, March 30 (Yonhap) -- South Korea opened two more community centers for
North Korean defectors on Monday, following one that was launched last week, as
part of its efforts to help them better adjust to life in the capitalist South.
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
the Hanawon. But the newcomers still struggle to integrate at work and in school
in a drastically different society.
Amid a growing influx of newcomers from North Korea, the Unification Ministry
plans to operate community centers for them across the country to respond to
their need for continued support. The adjustment facility, called Hana Center,
first opened in Seoul's Nowon District last week, and two others were launched on
Monday in Bucheon of Gyeonggi Province, west of Seoul, and the southeastern
metropolitan city of Daegu.
"Looking forward to peaceful reunification in the future, our government is
preparing for systematic and comprehensive measures to help North Korean
defectors settle in our society," Unification Ministry Hyun In-taek said in an
opening ceremony in Bucheon.
He also said South Korea's support for defectors' adjustment is a litmus test for
its preparedness for reunification.
The Hana Center 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 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$689) per person a month,
compared with the 2.9 million won the average South Korean employee receives.
They mostly ended up in low-paying blue-collar jobs, with day laborers accounting
for 43 percent, compared to 9 percent for South Korean workers, according to the
survey.
The ministry plans to open 12 more adjustment centers next year.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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