More North Korean defectors pursue entrepreneurship for better life

A still of the 2017 documentary "The Jangmadang Generation" produced by the humanitarian NGO, Liberty in North Korea (LiNK). The film features young North Koreans who were born and raised after markets popped up in North Korea in the wake of the deadly famine in the mid-1990s. Courtesy of LiNK

With the arrivals of a total of 33,882 North Korean defectors to date, their assimilation into South Korean society has emerged as a key issue. From next week, The Korea Times will publish regularly a series of interviews with North Koreans living in the South to hear their stories about life here and find possible policy implications to make the country more inclusive. ―ED.

By Kang Hyun-kyung

Startups have become a buzzword among North Korean defectors living in South Korea as they mull various options to start their own business in order to escape what they perceive as discrimination at South Korean companies against people from the North.

A 2022 survey conducted by Korea Hana Foundation, which was set up to help defectors settle here, found that 17.9 percent of North Koreans living in South Korea are self-employed. The longer they've lived in the South, the higher the self-employment rate, the survey showed.

The self-employment rate for North Korean defectors is 3.3 percentage points lower than that of South Koreans. But it is still deemed high, considering that South Korea ranked eighth in terms of the self-employment rate in 2022 among the member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The self-employment rate for people who escaped from North Korea is somewhere between that of Poland (19.7 percent) which came in 11th and the Czech Republic (15.9 percent), which stood at 12th among OECD countries in terms of the self-employed rate.

"People from North Korea find it difficult to adapt to the workplace culture in South Korea," Seo Jae-pyeong, president of the Seoul-based non-profit group, Association for North Korean Defectors, said. "Many people who were born in North Korea openly say they will start their own business, once they make enough seed money to finance their startups."

The 2022 Korea Hana Foundation survey shows North Korean escapees' growing interest in starting their own businesses. When asked what kind of policy assistance they want from the government, 21.9 percent answered financial support for employment and launching their own businesses, followed by medical assistance (18.7 percent) and housing assistance (13.3 percent).

From May 1 to June 30, 2022, Hana Foundation surveyed 2,198 North Koreans who arrived in South Korea between 1997 and 2021. Professional interviewers met them one on one to get their answers to given questions.

The self-employment rate among North Korean defectors is expected to go up further in the near future with the arrivals of a younger generation of North Koreans who are described as the "Jangmadang Generation." Jangmadang is the North Korean word for open-air markets, which sprung up in the North after the deadly famine in the mid-1990s as state rations were cut.

Korea Times graphic by Cho Sang-won

They are the equivalent of North Korea's millennials and Generation Z, commonly known here in the South as "Generation MZ," according to Sokeel Park, the South Korea country director of the humanitarian NGO, Liberty in North Korea (LINK) in Seoul.

"They don't remember the pre-famine period," Park said. "In the post-famine period, the government was not providing (the necessities), so the people had to feed themselves. They become entrepreneurs and do market activities. The Jangmadang Generation were involved in business or market activities from their early ages, helping their parents and doing their own thing."

According to Korea Hana Foundation, North Korean escapees in their twenties and thirties account for 34.9 percent of the North Korean community in the South.

Knowing how market economies work through their hands-on experience in their homeland, the younger North Korean escapees came to develop their own business acumen. Their presence in the South may trigger a possible "startup boom" in the North Korean community.

Park said the Jangmadang Generation will also have a significant socio-economic impact on North Korea as well.

"Very importantly, this was a period when more information and media information came in from the outside world. The influx of technology and word of mouth through DVDs, USBs. Through these, young North Koreans learned about the outside world to have a different ideology, different desires and perceptions about the outside world from their parents' generation," he said, calling them the agents of change in the North.

"This generation and the next generations are very important for future economic and social and cultural change that will happen in the North."

Korea Times graphic by Cho Sang-won

The influx of North Korean defectors in the South began in 2001.

The number of North Koreans who risked their lives by choosing the perilous journey to South Korea for freedom and better economic conditions reached its peak in 2009 when 2,914 people defected to the South. The figure has dropped from 2012 when Kim Jong-un ascended to power following the death of his father Kim Jong-il. The younger Kim tightened border controls and imposed fear politics to prevent North Koreans from escaping their homeland.

Amid the slowdown in North Korean arrivals, COVID-19 became a game changer. The number of North Koreans escaping to the South dropped sharply to 229 in 2020, 63 in 2021 and 67 last year.

According to the Ministry of Unification, a total of 33,882 North Korean defectors arrived in the South so far. The number is cumulative, meaning that it is not an actual figure of North Koreans living in South Korea. Those who died, went missing or migrated to other countries are not reflected in the figure.

North Koreans living in the South said discrimination, among others, is the most daunting challenge they face in their daily lives.

Seo said that discrimination in the workplace, in particular, is another key factor that facilitated North Korean escapees' growing interest in startups.

"Those born in North Korea complain that they are discriminated against in the workplace and this made it difficult for them to continue their careers as salaried workers. If they start their own business, many of them think they won't experience job-related discrimination."

In his 2018 memoir, "Castaway: People Who Don't Belong Anywhere in the Two Koreas," author Joo Seung-hyun likened himself and other North Koreans who found new homes in the South to "second-class citizens."

"I've met North Korean defectors who pretend to be Joseon-jok (ethnic Koreans from China) here in the South. They do so because of jobs. Their chances of getting jobs become dim once they reveal that they escaped from North Korea," Joo wrote. "Here in South Korea, people North Korean escapees are treated like the 'untouchables' and the way they are treated in the workplace is even worse than how Joseon-jok are received."

Joo claimed that discrimination has been part of his life since he arrived in the South after crossing the military demarcation line in 2002.

North Korean defectors arrive at Incheon International Airport in this 2011 file photo. The number of North Koreans who arrived in South Korea peaked in 2009 at 2,914 and dropped sharply after the outbreak of COVID-19. Korea Times file

There is a gap in the narratives of discrimination in the workplace between Southerners and Northerners. While the North Korean settlers complain about biased treatment by employers, Southerners blame the escapees for being impatient and prone to quitting.

When facing challenges in the workplace, some South Koreans say the North Koreans just quit without even trying to find solutions.

"Some employers here complain that North Korean defectors are job hoppers," said Choi Chan-hee, president of Future Forum for Women in Gangwon Province.

Over the past decade since she first met a defector through a Catholic nun, Choi has helped North Koreans living in the eastern province find jobs by using her extensive network with local business leaders and city government officials.

Choi said she personally has witnessed a meaningful progress made in North Korean escapees' assimilation into South Korean society during the past decade, noting that some defectors she helped now became very successful in their careers.

"But there are some Northerners who are still struggling. I think they are partially responsible for their job insecurity. They blame South Korea's corporate culture as a source of their problems. But I disagree with them," she said.

Kim Young-hee, a senior public relations official at Korea Hana Foundation, said job-hopping is a temporary phenomenon that many North Korean escapees experience in their early years in the South.

"It's natural that they go through trials and errors in their job search activities until they find jobs suitable for them, mainly because they came from a society very different from South Korea," she said.

According to Kim, many North Korean defectors, particularly males, find jobs in the manufacturing sector during their first year here, due to a shortage of workers and ample job openings.

"They soon realize that their work is not rewarding financially, as they believe they are less paid than construction site workers. They go for jobs that pay them better," she said.

She said their job-hopping stops once they find work that fit their aptitude and skills.

"There is one thing we need to ask ourselves about job-hopping by North Korean escapees. If they are satisfied with their current employment and feel that their jobs are rewarding, who's going to quit?" she asked. "Once they search for work during their first three to four years here, few North Korean escapees leave their jobs."

Sokeel Park, South Korea county director of Liberty in North Korea / Courtesy of Sokeel Park