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| North Korean teenage defectors return to their classroom after a break at Hanawon, a government-run adjustment and education center for North Koreans resettling in South Korea, in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, in this Oct. 12, 2016, file photo. A defector who was once hailed as "a successful resettlement case" has recently found dead at her rental apartment in Seoul. Newsis |
Gov't vows to improve system to protect defectors struggling in South Korea
By Jung Min-ho
A defector who was once hailed by the media as a successful resettlement case has been found dead in her home in Seoul. Authorities believe nearly a year has passed since she died, given how much her corpse had decomposed and the fact that she was found wearing winter clothes. She was 49.
According to police in Yangcheon District Tuesday, her body was discovered on Oct. 19 by an official of the Seoul Housing and Communities Corporations, the city-owned public rental house provider, which had tried to contact her about renewing her housing rental contract.
The official eventually opened the door of her apartment, where he discovered the body. Police plan to carry out an autopsy on the body to determine the cause of her death. She had no family members in South Korea, they said.
According to the Ministry of Unification, she entered the South in 2002 after escaping North Korea. She then started working at the Korea Hana Foundation, a ministry-run organization that supports North Koreans trying to resettle here. As she was building up a good reputation among other defectors, she was reported as a successful resettlement case by some media outlets.
But her former co-workers said they lost contact with her after she had left the job in 2017.
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| The sign of the Ministry of Unification is seen inside the government complex in Seoul, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Jung Min-ho |
Speaking to reporters, an official at the ministry expressed regret over the case and vowed to improve the system to check on those who may need extra attention.
According to rules, the ministry only monitors North Korean defectors who are not included on the welfare program list of local governments, and she was not on the ministry's watch list, the official said.
Also, up until last year, the ministry was responsible for checking the living conditions of all North Korean defectors. But the ministry complied with a request by the National Assembly last year to reduce the number of duplicate studies done also by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
In general, North Korean defectors report living healthier and more satisfactory lives in South Korea. According to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Unification in 2021, over 76 percent of respondents said they were either "very satisfied" or "satisfied" with their lives here.
However, those who were "unsatisfied" picked "living without family" as the biggest reason (29.8 percent) for their dissatisfaction.
In many cases, North Korean defectors stay in touch with ― and even financially help ― their families in their hometowns. In another survey conducted recently by the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, 21.8 percent of respondents said they communicated with their families or friends in the North this year, while 17.8 percent said they sent their money to them.
Unification Minister Kwon Young-se has promised to improve human rights for all North Koreans, including those who are struggling to adjust to South Korean society.
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