Teaching English to North Korean Refugees in South Korea: An Interview with Karen Choi

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alzo David-West
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
Teaching English ◽  
North Korean Refugees

Teaching English to North Korean refugees with PSCORE: an interview with EFL tutor Christine Pickering

English Today ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 13-17
Author(s):  
Alzo David-West ◽  
Sora Suh
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Nongovernmental Organization ◽  
Teaching English ◽  
Refugee Students ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
Personal Names ◽  
North Korean Refugees ◽  
Research Manager ◽  
Volunteer Tutoring

The following interview with Christine Pickering, an instructor of English as a foreign language at Duksung Women's University, Seoul, South Korea, discusses teaching English to North Korean refugees with People for Successful Corean Reunification (PSCORE). A non-profit nongovernmental organization and human rights-national unification initiative, PSCORE was founded in 2006 in Seoul and has an office in Washington, D.C., with support from the U.S. State Department. PSCORE offers a one-on-one education program and free volunteer tutoring in computers, languages, mathematics, and other subjects, serving some 140 North Korean refugees as they adjust to life and employment competition in South Korea. The interviewers thank Mr. Bada Nam, PSCORE secretary general, and Ms. Jeongeun Ahn, PSCORE research manager, for approving the interview. The interview questions were prepared by Alzo David-West, and the interview was conducted in person by Sora Suh on August 1, 2012, at a PSCORE teaching location in Seoul. All personal names of North Korean refugee students have been removed.

scholarly journals A Qualitative Case Study on Influencing Factors of Parents’ Child Abuse of North Korean Refugees in South Korea

Healthcare ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 49
Author(s):  
Wonjung Ryu ◽  
Hyerin Yang
Keyword(s):  
Child Abuse ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Influencing Factors ◽  
Acculturative Stress ◽  
North Korean Refugees ◽  
Korean Parents ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Maternal Parenting Stress ◽  
Past Experiences

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influencing factors of parental child abuse by North Korean refugees who are living in South Korea. In-depth interviews were conducted with five parents who escaped from North Korea. The study identified three categories of factors impacting child abuse: the weakening of family functions from past experiences before and after defection, the stress of adapting to the culture of an unfamiliar society, and low parenting self-efficacy. North Korean parents suffered from emotional and functional crises from past traumatic events and, at the same time, experienced additional acculturative stress as a “minority” after entering South Korea, even as they continued to deal with Maternal Parenting Stress. These complex factors have been shown to lead to child abuse in migrant societies. This study contemplated the context of child abuse through specific examples. The results could provide thoughtful insights into child abuse among migrants and refugee parents, and provide evidence-based intervention plans for its prevention.

scholarly journals Vitamin D status and associated metabolic risk factors among North Korean refugees in South Korea: a cross-sectional study

BMJ Open ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (11) ◽  
pp. e009140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyeong Jin Kim ◽  
Yoon Jung Kim ◽  
Sun Hwa Kim ◽  
Jee Hyun An ◽  
Hye Jin Yoo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Vitamin D ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Metabolic Risk Factors ◽  
Metabolic Risk ◽  
Vitamin D Status ◽  
Sectional Study ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
North Korean Refugees

scholarly journals Employment information needs and information behaviour of North Korean refugees

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jieun Yeon ◽  
Jee Yeon Lee ◽  
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Information Behaviour ◽  
Job Seeking ◽  
Related Information ◽  
North Korean Refugees ◽  
Social Accessibility ◽  
Group Interviews

Introduction. The employment-related information needs and behaviour of North Korean refugees during their settlement in South Korea were analysed, and provisions that public libraries should consider when providing employment-related information to North Korean refugees were suggested. Method. Semi-structured group interviews were conducted with twenty-one North Korean refugees who had job-seeking experience or who wanted to be employed. Also, five public and NGO workers that aid the employment seeking process for employment support services to North Korean refugees provided field data on the services provided and characteristics of North Korean refugees’ information behaviour. Analysis. The results were examined using content analysis according to the factors of Dervin’s sense-making theory—situation, gap, and use. We used NVIVO 12 to extract codes from interview parts according to the factors. Results. The employment situation of North Korean refugees in South Korea can largely be categorised into two types: employment-related and education-related. The frequent subjects of employment information needs were job posting, vocational education, and career. Participants suffered from a lack of intellectual, psychological, and social accessibility. North Korean refugees were most likely to get information from interpersonal sources, the Internet, and public institutions. Conclusion. We developed a model of North Korean refugees’ information behaviour based on the findings and provided guidance for public libraries on serving job-seeking North Korean refugees.

scholarly journals Gender Differences in Suicidal Ideation and Related Factors among North Korean Refugees in South Korea

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 762 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin-Won Noh ◽  
Hyunchun Park ◽  
Young Dae Kwon ◽  
In Hye Kim ◽  
Yo Han Lee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Suicidal Ideation ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
North Korean Refugees

scholarly journals The Issues of North Korean Refugees and the Policy Direction of South Korea

2013 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-112
Author(s):  
Gil-Hyun Yang ◽  
고성준 ◽  
Kang Kun-Hyung ◽  
Chang,Won-Seok
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
North Korean Refugees ◽  
Policy Direction

Bitter Taste of Paradise: North Korean Refugees in South Korea

2006 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrei Lankov
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
Social Adjustment ◽  
Bitter Taste ◽  
Korean Society ◽  
South Korean ◽  
The Past ◽  
The North ◽  
North Korean Refugees ◽  
North Korean Defectors ◽  
To Come

This article deals with the problems of North Korean defectors currently living in South Korea. In the past, most such defectors came from privileged groups in the North Korean population, and their adjustment to the new environment did not pose a significant problem. However, from the mid-1990s, defectors began to come from the far less privileged groups. They experience serious problems related to jobs, education, crime, and social adjustment. Recent years have seen a dramatic but not always openly stated change in the official South Korean attitude toward defectors: from a policy explicitly aimed at encouraging defection, Seoul has moved to the policy of quietly discouraging it. There are fears that encouraging defection will undermine the policy of peaceful engagement with the North. There is also the perception that refugees are outsiders, not quite adjustable to the conditions of South Korean society and thus a social and budgetary burden.

Acculturative stress as a mental health predictor of North Korean refugees in South Korea

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hwajin Shin ◽  
In-Jin Yoon
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Status ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Acculturative Stress ◽  
Home Country ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
North Korean Refugees ◽  
Integrated Or ◽  
Culture Of Origin

South Korea is an emerging immigration destination where over half of the country’s immigrant population are ethnic return migrants. Thus far, little attention has been given to the effect of acculturation on the mental health of coethnic migrants in non-traditional immigration states such as South Korea. Using 2010 survey data on 1,200 North Korean refugees, this study examines the effect of preserving cultural norms and practices from the home country on the mental health of North Koreans in the South. Based on an acculturation typology, we categorize respondents into four groups based on their attitudes toward home and host cultures. Given South Korea’s homogenous context, our cluster analyses extracted two acculturation types—the integrated and the assimilated groups. The finding that integrated or bicultural individuals had better mental health status than assimilated individuals underscores the crucial role of the culture of origin in attenuating acculturative distress for coethnic migrants in South Korea.

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