Responses to Information Requests

Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada

1. Overview

A 2018 article written by Gyubin Choi, a senior researcher at the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies (IPUS) at Seoul National University (SNU), states that the "position of the South Korean government is that North Koreans are citizens the South Korean government should protect" (Choi Apr. 2018, 81). A May 2019 New York Times article reports that South Korea provides North Koreans with "citizenship and generous benefits" (The New York Times 8 May 2019). According to Korea Hana Foundation (North Korean Refugees Foundation), a non-profit and public organization established by the Ministry of Unification (MoU) in 2010 to "contribute to the resettlement of North Korean refugees and to the unification of Korea" (Korea Hana Foundation n.d.),

[t]he Korean government recognizes North Korean refugees as dislocated people who are also victims of national division. It has unfailingly accommodated all those who, by their own free will, have sought its protection and support. Upon their arrival in South Korea, the government grants them a variety of basic benefits to provide them with all the freedoms and human rights of South Korean society. (Korea Hana Foundation [June 2018])

Sources further specify that, according to the Constitution of the Republic of Korea, North Koreans are considered citizens (Choi Apr. 2018, 81; Hundt, et al. 14 Aug. 2018, 435; Executive Director 23 Jan. 2020). Article 3 of the constitution provides the following: "The territory of the Republic of Korea shall consist of the Korean peninsula and its adjacent islands" (Republic of Korea 1948).

According to the Republic of Korea's MoU, between 1948 and June 2019, "33,022 North Korean defectors entered South Korea" (Republic of Korea [June 2019]). The MoU's White Paper on Korean Unification 2019 specifies that "currently over 30,000 defectors have been able to settle as citizens of the Republic of Korea" (Republic of Korea 2019a, 296). The MoU's data further indicates that in 2017, 1,127 North Korean defectors entered South Korea, followed by 1,137 in 2018 and 546 between January and June 2019 (Republic of Korea [June 2019]).

2. Requirements and Procedures for North Koreans to Settle in South Korea

According to information provided on the website of the Republic of Korea’s MoU,

[t]he R.O.K. [Republic of Korea] government, on the principle of humanitarianism, offers special protection to North Korean defectors who seek government protection, and provides necessary protection and assistance for defectors' swift adaptation and settlement in all spheres of their living including political, economic, social and cultural spheres. (Republic of Korea [June 2019])

The MoU website further indicates that the process for assisting North Korean defectors to settle in South Korea is as follows:

• Request for protection and transfer to South Korea.
  
  • Accommodate defectors in foreign diplomatic offices or temporary shelters in a host country
  • Negotiate with the host country and support the immigration of defectors after verifying their identity
• Protection Center
  
  • Upon entrance, conduct joint questioning with appropriate government agencies, including the National Intelligence Service
• Decision over protection
  
  • Decide whether to grant defectors protection through deliberation by the Consultative Council on Residents Escaping from North Korea, which consists of 23 government agencies with the Vice Minister of Unification acting as the council chair. (Republic of Korea [June 2019])

A 2019 article published by the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights (NKDB) [1] explains the following:

When the South Korean government locates and holds custody of a person claiming to be a North Korean refugee, it is the South Korean National Intelligen[ce] Service (NIS) that determines the person's status as a resident of North Korea, hence a North Korean refugee (once verified as a resident of North Korea, the person is automatically recognized as a North Korean refugee regardless of the purpose of or reason for defection, escape route, identity, and past acts or records.) The NIS's North Korean Defector Protection Center conducts an investigation and once determined as a resident of North Korea, the person is deemed a citizen of South Korea. (NKDB 11 Nov. 2019)

The 2019 White Paper states that once granted the status of South Korean citizens,

the government provides the defectors with basic social settlement education at the Settlement Support Facility for Dislocated North Koreans (hereinafter, Hanawon). After the defectors complete the program there and enter society, the government, local governments, and the North Korean Refugees Foundation collaborate to provide a base for livelihood such as employment assistance, asset building, and education support. (Republic of Korea 2019a, 254)

In correspondence with the Research Directorate, a representative of Liberty in North Korea (LiNK), an international NGO with staff in the US, South Korea and Southeast Asia that has assisted over 1,000 North Korean refugees reach and resettle in South Korea and the US, speaking on their own behalf, similarly explained the following:

Typically, North Korean defectors (NKDs) come to South Korea via a third country, with the vast majority coming through China and Southeast Asia (although they may find passage through other countries or even travel directly from North to South Korea). In Southeast Asian countries, the relevant ROK embassy will typically cooperate with the host government to get the NKD out of that country to South Korea. There is some screening process while they are still in Southeast Asia. On arrival in South Korea, they go for a mandatory security screening with the National Intelligence Service (NIS) that can take up to 3 months. This investigation establishes their bonafides as a North Korean defector and therefore their right to South Korean citizenship and assistance. They then go through an education / integration training program in a center known as Hanawon which is run by the [MoU], which is also typically 3 months. They then start their lives in South Korea as ROK nationals. (Representative 13 Jan. 2020)

The May 2019 New York Times article reports that

[u]pon arrival, talbukja [defectors from North Korea to the South] are subjected to lengthy interrogation to make sure they aren't North Korean spies or Chinese-Koreans (ethnic Koreans living in China aren't given the same benefits) and are then placed in a three-month adjustment program run by the Ministry of Unification … Defectors learn how to take the subway, shop for groceries, use smartphones and master the "Seoul accent". (The New York Times 8 May 2019)

According to the Executive Director [2] of Gonggam Human Rights Law Foundation, a South Korea-based NGO "with a group of full-time lawyers devoted to protecting and promoting human rights of minorities, the underprivileged and the most vulnerable persons in Korean society" (Multilaw n.d.),

[t]he Constitution and other relevant laws of South Korea may appear to grant equal rights as a citizen to North Korean escapees. However, it is granted only after North Korean escapee[s] subject [themselves] through [an] arduous two-month-long "protection" procedure and successfully complete [the] three-month-long "social integration program" offered at the live-in facility for North Korean escapees called "Hanawon". Only after going through the "Hanawon" process North Koreans can have their South Korean family registries, resident registration cards and passports issued. Such mandatory "protection" procedure is tantamount to a process of disproving one’s potential espionage charge … (Executive Director 23 Jan. 2020)

3. Eligibility Limitations
3.1 Legislation

Article 3 of the North Korean Refugees Protection and Settlement Support Act provides the following: "This Act shall apply to residents escaping from North Korea who have expressed their intention to be protected by the Republic of Korea" (Republic of Korea 2019b). The LiNK representative stated that "intention is typically expressed by signing a document to the relevant authority, for instance the relevant ROK embassy" (Representative 13 Jan. 2020). The Executive Director explained the following:

Only those North Korean escapees who have successfully gone through the protection process can reside in South Korea as South Korean nationals. According to the Protection and Settlement Act, North Korean escapees must express their intention to be protected by the Republic of Korea (Article 3) and adapt themselves to the liberal democratic legal order of the Republic of Korea (Article 4(3)). Prior to the joint investigation by the NIS, North Korean escapees are required to sign a statement of pledge which explicitly states that they are "defectors" and the joint investigation is [an] "examination of defection". (Executive Director 23 Jan. 2020)

Article 9 of the North Korean Refugees Protection and Settlement Support Act provides the following:

Article 9 (Criteria for Protection Decision)

1. In making a decision on whether to provide protection pursuant to the main sentence of Article 8 (1), any of the following persons may not be designated as persons eligible for protection: <Amended by Act No. 16223, Jan. 15, 2019>
   
   1. International criminal offenders involved in aircraft hijacking, drug trafficking, terrorism or genocide, etc.;
   2. Offenders of nonpolitical and serious crimes, such as murder;
   3. Suspects of disguised escape;
   4. Persons who have earned their living for at least ten years in their respective countries of sojourn;
   5. Persons who have applied for protection when three years elapsed since their entry into the Republic of Korea;
   6. Other persons prescribed by Presidential Decree as unfit for the designation as persons eligible for protection.
2. The provisions of paragraph (1) 4 and 5 shall not apply where residents escaping from North Korea have unavoidable grounds prescribed by Presidential Decree. <Amended by Act No. 12683, May 28, 2014>
3. The Minister of Unification may provide support and protection prescribed in any of the following subparagraphs, if necessary, to the residents escaping from North Korea who have not been designated as persons eligible for protection because they fall under any of the subparagraphs of paragraph (1): <Amended by Act No. 12683, May 28, 2014; Act No. 14608, Mar. 21, 2017; Act No. 16223, Jan. 15, 2019>
   
   1. Protection and special cases prescribed in Articles 11, 13, 14, 16, 17-3, 19, 19-2, 20 (only limited to where a person has not been designated as a person eligible for protection because he/she falls under paragraph (1) 4 and 5 of this Article), 22, and 26-2;
   2. Protection and support prescribed by Presidential Decree as necessary for settlement in a community.
4. Other matters necessary for protection and support prescribed in paragraph (3) shall be prescribed by Presidential Decree.

[This Article Wholly Amended by Act No. 10188, Mar. 26, 2010] (Republic of Korea 2019b)

Media sources report that in November 2019, two North Korean men, who had allegedly murdered their captain and all 15 of the other crew members and were apprehended by the South Korean navy as they crossed the maritime border, later had their request for protection rejected and were returned to North Korea through the Panmunjom border village (VOA 8 Nov. 2019; BBC 7 Nov. 2019; The New York Times 18 Dec. 2019). The BBC and New York Times report that the South Korean officials did not trust their intention to defect (BBC 7 Nov. 2019; The New York Times 18 Dec. 2019). According to sources, South Korean government officials cited Article 9 of the Protection Act and their alleged crimes as grounds for the two men's deportation (VOA 8 Nov. 2019; NKDB 11 Nov. 2019). However, the NKDB notes the following:

Article 2 Section 2 [of the Protection Act] states that "the person eligible for protection" refers to a resident escaping from North Korea who is provided with protection and support pursuant to this Act. According to Article 8 (Decision on Protection) and Article 9 (Criteria for Protection), the person intending to receive government support (financial support for settlement, social integration education, shelter, medical service, education, employment, living support, etc.) must first be recognized as "the person eligible for protection." Hence, this Act is only to decide whether the North Korean refugee is eligible to receive the government benefits. It does not decide on whether the person shall be deported or not. (NKDB 11 Nov. 2019)

The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) [3] highlights that the investigation into the two men's alleged crimes lasted "only three days" (HRNK 7 Nov. 2019), while the New York Times reports they "were denied access to lawyers, a court hearing or a chance to appeal the government's decision to repatriate them" (The New York Times 18 Dec. 2019). Sources note that authorities had intended to keep the case secret, but that it has been reported on by the media (The New York Times 18 Dec. 2019; NKDB 11 Nov. 2019).

Sources further report that this was "the first deportation of North Koreans by South Korea since the 1953 War Armistice" (HRNK 7 Nov. 2019), or "the first in which South Korea rejected North Korean defectors because of their alleged crimes in the North or because their intent to defect was considered disingenuous" (The New York Times 18 Dec. 2019). The BBC says this is "the South's first deportation of North Koreans through Panmunjom" (BBC 7 Nov. 2019).

The New York Times further explains that

[a]lthough the South's [c]onstitution claims North Korea as part of its territory, both sides in reality have also recognized each other's territorial sovereignty. … In the past decade, South Korea has returned 185 North Korean fishermen adrift in its waters who wanted to return home. In the same period, North Korea sent home 16 South Koreans who entered the North illegally. (The New York Times 18 Dec. 2019)

The NKDB article similarly states that South Korean officials "respect [the] will" of North Korean fishermen who [unintentionally] cross the maritime border and "express their intent to go back to North Korea" (NKDB 11 Nov. 2019).

In correspondence with the Research Directorate, an officer with the Republic of Korea Mission of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) wrote that according to the Korea Hana Foundation, "North Korean asylum seekers abroad can apply for citizenship and get protection once they withdraw [their] asylum application" (UN 12 Feb. 2020). The Executive Director also wrote that "seeking asylum in a third country after their settlement in South Korea will also not affect [North Korean escapees'] South Korean nationality, although the benefits they are to receive may be affected" (Executive Director 23 Jan. 2020).

4. Settlement and Support Services

The MoU's website provides the following regarding support services for North Korean Defectors:

• Preparation for settlement at Hanawon
  
  • Conduct training for social adaptation (12 weeks)
  • Resolve cultural differences, offer assistance for psychological well-being, provide career counseling, etc.
  • Prepare for settlement including registration of family relations, housing arrangement, etc.
• Settlement benefit: KRW [South Korean won] 8 ~ 39 million Housing subsidy: KRW 16 ~ 23 - million [C$ 18,000–26,000]. The amount depends on the conditions and size of household
• Residence support
  
  • Incorporate the defectors into the social safety net (Basic living security, medical care)
  • Vocational support: employment subsidy, vocational training, asset-building assistance, etc.
  • Educational support: tuition waiver (middle and high schools, national and public universities), 50% tuition grant (private universities)
  • The Korea Hana Foundation offers various forms of support in cooperation with the central and local governments, and the private sector
    
    • Designate and run 25 regional adaptation centers (Hana Center) across the nation
    • Settlement assistants (500 persons): work with volunteers
    • Professional counselors (100 persons): provide comprehensive counseling
    • Protection officers: 230 persons in residence, 60 persons in the workplace, and 800 persons for personal protection. (Republic of Korea [June 2019])

According to the May 2019 New York Times article, once defectors complete the "adjustment program," "the government gives them cash benefits and a housing subsidy, vocational training and scholarships but also places them under surveillance" (The New York Times 8 May 2019). The CBC, citing an interview with a North Korean defector, similarly reports that "'… defectors are assigned police officers' … . In a statement to CBC News, the Ministry of Unification … said police officers are tasked with protecting defectors and resolving any problems they might face" (CBC 9 Sept. 2018). According to the 2019 MoU's White Paper, there are approximately 900 personnel from the National Police Agency "in charge of personal protection" to "protect North Korean defectors from various crimes" (Republic of Korea 2019a, 301).

4.1 Loss of Benefits

Citing refugee advocates, a 2017 article in the Korea Times, a Seoul-based daily newspaper, reports that North Korean asylum seekers who have had to return to South Korea were "being stripped of the previous benefits of a North Korean defector" (The Korea Times 7 Nov. 2017). The LiNK representative also stated that "living abroad (typically not including China) or seeking asylum in a third country may result in not being entitled to normal access to benefits as a North Korean defector" (Representative 13 Jan. 2020). The Executive Director further explained that

[t]hose who are unsuccessful in the protection process because of their long stay in another country [among other grounds] will not receive, or partially receive, social support and benefits for North Korean escapees. However, this [has] nothing to do with their South Korean nationality recognition. Unless they are found to be Non-Korean nationals or fail to prove they are from North Korea, North Korean escapees will be confirmed [as holding] South Korean nationality. (Executive Director 23 Jan. 2020)

According to the December 2019 New York Times article,

[a]t least 270 North Korean defectors living in the South have been disqualified from government subsidies for various reasons, including nine who had committed murder or other serious crimes before coming to South Korea, according to government data. Separately, 215 defectors lost such subsidies in the last five years for committing various crimes in South Korea. (The New York Times 18 Dec. 2019)

The NKDB article, citing an October 2019 MoU report, indicates that "137 North Korean refugees have been deemed ineligible for protection [meaning that "their potential government benefits have been stripped away"] over the past five years, and among them was a bounty hunter aiming to arrest North Korean defectors, and two murderers" (NKDB 11 Nov. 2019).

5. Situation and Treatment

According to Freedom House’s Freedom in the World 2019 report for South Korea, defectors "can face months of detention and interrogations upon arrival, and some have reported abuse in custody" (Freedom House 2019). The Executive Director stated that "North Korean escapee[s] may be detained without a court warrant for up to 90 days at the Protection Centre, which amounts to a de facto imprisonment," adding that the length of detention without warrant in criminal proceedings for accused and defendants is 20 days and two months, respectively (Executive Director 23 Jan. 2020). The same source also indicated that due to the security classification of the Protection Center, public access is highly restricted and, as a result, "not much has been known to [the] outside world in terms of how the Protection Centre is organized or managed, nor is there any way to conduct meaningful monitoring of possible human rights violations" (Executive Director 23 Jan. 2020).

In December 2019, the BBC reported that a North Korean defector had accused two South Korean intelligence officers of raping her (BBC 5 Dec. 2019). The same source further reports that, citing South Korean officials, the intelligence officers in question have been suspended pending the results of the investigation (BBC 5 Dec. 2019). Further information on the status of the investigation could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.

Sources state that North Korean defectors face discrimination in South Korea (The New York Times 5 Aug. 2017; ABC News 16 Nov. 2019; Freedom House 2019). According to ABC News, the "[a]verage monthly wage for North Korean defectors working in the South is $1,636, some 25% below the minimum wage of $2,203 per month" (ABC News 16 Nov. 2019). ABC News [Australia], citing a representative from Teach North Korean Refugees (TNKR), further reports that "North Koreans are often identified by their accent and can be maligned or passed over for jobs" (ABC News 2 Jan. 2020). According to a 2018 survey of North Koreans by the Korea Hana Foundation, regarding the experiences of North Koreans living in South Korea, the employment rate among North Koreans was 60.4 percent and the unemployment rate was 6.9 percent, with the unemployment rate being 2.9 percent higher than that of South Koreans (Korea Hana Foundation 2019, 57).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Notes

[1] The Database Center for North Korean Human Rights (NKDB) is a Seoul-based organization that conducts social and human rights research, provides lectures and seminars on human rights, as well as settlement support services for North Korean refugees in South Korea (NKDB n.d.).

[2] The Executive Director also serves as an adjunct professor heading the international human rights law clinic at Seoul National University (SNU) Law School and was the principal drafter of the 2013 Refugee Act.

[3] The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK), based in Washington DC, is an organization composed of "foreign policy and human rights specialists" that conducts research on and promotes human rights in North Korea (HRNK n.d.)

References

ABC News [Australia]. 2 January 2020. Erin Handley. "South Koreans Do Defect to the North — But There's Always More to the Story." [Accessed 11 Feb. 2020]

ABC News [US]. 16 November 2019. Joohee Cho and Hakyung Kate Lee. "After North Korean Defector and Her Son Die, a Spotlight on Their Hardships in Freedom." [Accessed 11 Feb. 2020]

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). 5 December 2019. Hyung Eun Kim. "South Korea Intelligence Officers Accused of Raping Defector from North." [Accessed 11 Feb. 2020]

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). 7 November 2019. "North Korean Fishermen 'Killed 16 Colleagues' Before Fleeing to South." [Accessed 12 Feb. 2020]

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). 9 September 2018. Jennifer Yoon. "'A Cage Without Walls': Once in South Korea, North Koreans Have Little Chance of Getting Asylum Elsewhere." [Accessed 4 Feb. 2020]

Choi, Gyubin. April 2018. "North Korean Refugees in South Korea: Change and Challenge in Settlement Support Policy." The Korean Journal of International Studies. Vol. 16, No. 1. [Accessed 6 Jan. 2020]

The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK). 7 November 2019. "Statement Regarding South Korea’s Deportation of North Korean Escapees." [Accessed 17 Feb. 2020]

The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK). N.d. "About HRNK." [Accessed 17 Feb. 2020]

Database Center for North Korean Human Rights (NKDB). 11 November 2019. Yeosang Yoon. "The Lives of the Two North Korean Defectors Who Have Been Forcefully Repatriated from South Korea Must Be Protected." [Accessed 13 Feb. 2020]

Database Center for North Korean Human Rights (NKDB). N.d. "About Us." [Accessed 13 Feb. 2020]

Executive Director, Gonggam Human Rights Law Foundation. 23 January 2020. Correspondence with the Research Directorate.

Freedom House. 2019. "South Korea." Freedom in the World 2019. [Accessed 11 Feb. 2020]

Hundt, David, Jessica Walton, and Soo Jung Elisha Lee. 14 August 2018. "The Politics of Conditional Citizenship in South Korea: An Analysis of the Print Media." Journal of Contemporary Asia. Vol 49, No. 3. [Accessed 6 Jan. 2020]

Korea Hana Foundation. 2019. 2018 Settlement Survey of North Korean Refugees in South Korea. [Accessed 17 Feb. 2020]

Korea Hana Foundation. [June 2018]. "Data and Statistics." [Accessed 7 Feb. 2020]

Korea Hana Foundation. N.d. "Who We Are." [Accessed 7 Feb. 2020]

The Korea Times. 7 November 2017. Kim Hyo-jin. "North Korean Defectors Choosing Third Countries over South Korea." [Accessed 6 Jan. 2020]

Multilaw. N.d. "Seoul Charity Benefits from Donations by Multilaw Lawyers." [Accessed 12 Feb. 2020]

The New York Times. 18 December 2019. Choe Sang-Hun. "2 North Koreans Tried to Defect. Did Seoul Send Them to Their Deaths?" [Accessed 12 Feb. 2020]

The New York Times. 8 May 2019. E. Tammy Kim. "Where North and South Korea Meet: On TV." [Accessed 9 Jan. 2020]

The New York Times. 5 August 2017. Choe Sang-Hun. "North Korean Defector, 'Treated Like Dirt' in South, Fights to Return." [Accessed 6 Jan. 2020]

Representative, Liberty in North Korea (LiNK). 13 January 2020. Correspondence with the Research Directorate.

Republic of Korea. [June 2019]. Ministry of Unification (MoU). "Settlement Support for North Korean Defectors." [Accessed 6 Jan. 2020]

Republic of Korea. 2019a. Ministry of Unification (MoU). White Paper on Korean Unification 2019. [Accessed 14 Feb. 2020]

Republic of Korea. 2019b. North Korean Refugees Protection and Settlement Support Act. [Accessed 6 Jan. 2020]

Republic of Korea. 1948 (amended 1987). Constitution of the Republic of Korea. [Accessed 6 Jan. 2020]

United Nations (UN). 12 February 2020. International Organization for Migration (IOM), Republic of Korea Mission. Correspondence from an officer to the Research Directorate.

Voice of America (VOA). 8 November 2019. William Gallo. "Deportation of North Koreans Suspected in 16 Deaths Raises Questions in South." [Accessed 12 Feb. 2020]

Additional Sources Consulted

Oral sources: Korea Institute for National Unification Institutional Repository; North Korea Freedom Coalition; Republic of Korea – embassies in Ottawa, London and Washington; Teach North Korean Refugees.

Internet sites, including: Konkuk University – Department of Humanities for Unification; Korea Future Initiative; UN – International Organization for Migration.