Educational Challenges of and Support for Young North Korean Immigrants

Abstract

Since the end of the 1990s, South Korea has seen a rapid increase in the number of North Korean immigrants; as of December 2011, the total number had risen to over 23,000. This has generated dynamic change in the South Korean social system. This paper examines the nature of the educational challenges that young North Korean immigrants face and the support systems that exist for them in South Korea. The welfare and educational support programs for young North Korean immigrants have undergone rapid development and systemization in the last approximately 10 years. However, these young immigrants still experience many difficulties and challenges to adapting in South Korea. Meanwhile, South Koreans sometimes complain about reverse discrimination, claiming that North Korean immigrants receive excessive financial support and preferential treatment. Through a close look at immigrants’ challenges in adapting and the social responses of South Koreans, this paper shows the ongoing changes in society and the problems that South Korea needs to solve in response to the rapid influx of young North Korean immigrants. The paper analyzes data I gathered through qualitative research, including participant observation and interviews, during my dissertation research in 2007. The analysis also includes data from a longitudinal study on the education and adaptation of young North Korean immigrants, conducted utilizing both quantitative and qualitative methodologies in 2010 and in 2011 by the premier national educational policy and research institute, the Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), while I was a researcher there.