Destinations of North Korean Defectors

North Korean defector activity and definitions

While the number of North Korean defections have decreased significantly since Kim Jong-un took power in 2011, food deprivation, financial hardships and other political pressure continue to be the key drivers behind defections from North Korea to a select number of countries.

For clarity, the United Nations 1951 Refugee Convention defines a refugee as:

“someone who is unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion.”

South Korea has shifted its terminology a number of times on how to address their brothers from the North from “Pinanmin”(피난민) which means refugee to Talbukja” (탈북자) which carries connotations of betrayal to Saeteomin, which translates to “New Settlers”. To further confuse the matter, a NK News article published in 2012 stated that “The United Nations refers to people who have left North Korea as “North Korean asylum seekers.” In present day, North Korea defector and refugee are used somewhat interchangeably when referring to North Koreans who have left their home.

South Korea

According to South Korea’s Ministry of Unification, over 33,000 North Korean refugees have resettled in South Korea as of December 2020.  South Korea remains the most popular destination for North Korean refugees to settle in. Not only do North and South Koreans share the same heritage, a similar cultural background and a common language, the South Korean government offers generous resettlement benefits to help North Koreans integrate into South Korean society, which include the 12-week adaptation training at Hanawon, $6,000 – $32,400 in settlement benefits, $13,300 –$19,100 in housing subsidy, and free education in public schools and universities, to name the few.

The journey to South Korea is precarious and even with government assistance, adapting to life in South Korea is very difficult. The Hana Foundation’s annual survey of North Korean refugees reported the lowest rate of discrimination experienced at 17 percent in 2019, but one psychiatrist shared in a Yonhap News article also published in 2019, that "eight or nine of 10 North Korean defectors think that they are discriminated in the South and looked down on as 'second-class' citizens, though they do not talk about those issues publicly."

China

Although China does not grant refugee status to North Koreans and consider them illegal economic migrants who are subject to deportation back to North Korea, there are an estimated 200,000 North Koreans hiding in China (many of whom have resided in China for years to pay off significant debts for crossing the border into China). The two-fold reason why China is an attractive country for North Koreans to remain in hiding is a matter of survival. Among the approximately 5.7 million ethnic Koreans living outside the Korean peninsula, about 40 percent reside in China, some of whom act as brokers in assisting North Korean defectors to continue on to South Korea; as for those who are unable to obtain transport to South Korea, they are able to blend into the ethnic Korean community and mitigate the risk of being discovered by the Chinese authorities.

According  to Cho Cheon-hyeon, a documentary filmmaker who spent over two decades living with North Korean refugees along the border, most North Koreans in China prefer to stay in China rather than move to South Korea. For example, a former North Korean defector, Kim Yong-mi, who acquired Chinese citizenship upon marrying a Korean-Chinese husband said in an interview that it was “better to live well in China than to live poorly in South Korea”. Although China does not formally recognize Chinese-North Korean marriages, it was reported that many Chinese husbands attempt to secure their North Korean wives’ legal standing in China by paying expensive bribes to authorities in order to obtain Chinese Resident Identity Cards and have their wives registered as Chinese-born ethnic Koreans. In addition, Cho explains that some North Koreans who choose to work in China long-term regularly send money back to their family in North Korea and intend to return to their homeland after earning enough.

Nevertheless, it is important to note that China is active in deporting North Koreans back to North Korea, thus those who do not have legal identities yet choose to remain in China face a constant risk of discovery and repatriation.

Japan

In November 2002, Japanese news agency Yomiuri Shimbun reported that several North Korean defectors and their Japanese wives had flown directly from China to Japan, demonstrating China’s cooperation in their movement. Although Japan would seem like a logical mid-point for North Koreans to safely fly to South Korea, the migration process became challenging when the interests of East Asian countries grew complicated and relations between China and Japan deteriorated in 2010 during the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands dispute.

Since 2010, there has been one notable case in September 2011 where 9 North Koreans had sailed directly to Japan and were discovered in a wooden boat off Kanazawa by the Japan Coast Guard. However, perhaps due to discrimination and other social concerns experienced by ethnic Koreans (which had led to the resettlement programme of Japanese-Korean residents between 1959 to 1984), all the North Korean refugees who had escaped to Japan had later settled in South Korea.  

Europe and the United Kingdom

The EU’s statistics office stated in a report that a total of 820 North Koreans settled and obtained citizenships in the EU between 2007 and 2016, with nearly 90 percent of them residing in Germany and the UK (an EU country at the time).  Since the acquisition of an EU citizenship is made through naturalization, marriage or asylum, it is believed that most of them had escaped from North Korea.

However, according to the European Alliance for Human Rights in North Korea, North Koreans’ asylum claims are often denied because EU countries such as the UK, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands view North Koreans as South Korean citizens. For instance, the UK rejected 30 out of 40 asylum applications made by North Korean defectors in 2013. Meanwhile, Belgium rejected 99 out of 126 claims it received, whereas the Netherlands and France rejected all of the 128 and 129 applications respectively. (See why North Koreans don’t defect to Russia)

Nonetheless, as Choi Joong-hwa (a North Korean who defected in 2007) said, “I came here because Britain is the greatest democracy in the world...In North Korea, we learn about international countries in history.  Even schoolchildren there know that Britain is the best democracy in the world,” thus the UK remains a popular destination for North Korean refugees who yearn for freedom. In particular, New Malden, a southwest London suburb home to a large Korean community of 10,000 Korean residents (700 being North Koreans) became an attractive option for North Koreans to settle in.

United States

Since the first group of North Koreans were granted refugee status by the US on May 5, 2006, more than 170 North Korean refugees have settled in the US as of 2014.  According to a report published by The Bush Institute, the primary motivating factors for choosing the US were “the influence of someone, often religiously affiliated, who advocated for choosing the United States, or the presence of a family member or friend who had already resettled there”.  

The Bush Institute published findings from a 2014 qualitative study of North Korean refugees in the US where a 72-year-old male who left North Korea in 1985 and arrived in the US in 2011, explained that at first, he “did not select the U.S. because of the language barrier, and because South Korea would be closer to home once unification happens. But the pastor [told him] that the South Korean economy was doing poorly, so...[he] reapplied for the U.S.”.  Also from the same study, a 33-year-old female who left North Korea in 2004 and arrived in the US in 2006 said that “I learned through the internet that [North Korean] people in South Korea were living difficult lives because of discrimination… So I thought I would rather go to America. The pastor said that in America there were many different ethnicities so we wouldn’t face discrimination. And you are still young in your 20s, so if you just learn English you will have more opportunities than in South Korea”.

In addition to the North Korean refugees documented in the US government’s official records, an estimated 200 North Koreans have entered illegally and settled in Los Angeles as of 2016.

Canada

As of 2016, an estimated 970 North Koreans reside in Canada (with about half of whom arrived before 1980).  Akin to the reasons behind North Korean refugees choosing to settle in the US, those who applied for asylum in Canada feared discrimination in South Korea. A North Korean refugee named Taegun Kim who had spent 5 years living in South Korea said in an interview with the news outlet Global News, that “[South Koreans] treat us like garbage...even though we work harder than them, the payment for us is lower than the payment for foreigners… I feel we are accepted here [in Canada] because of the political and legal support for multiculturalism”.

Although it is the Canadian government’s policy to hear each case based on its own merits, Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board’s attitude towards granting North Koreans permanent residency in Canada has been reluctant because they are unlikely to face death or torture in South Korea.

Had it not been for the pandemic shutting down most international borders, ongoing hardships caused by food deprivation, poverty and a totalitarian regime would have caused many North Koreans to continue to defect from North Korea. While there is broad consensus that North Korean defectors should be given refugee status and aid, it is evident that policies vary widely by country. As a result, where these refugees want to live versus where they ultimately end up is unpredictable and oftentimes places them in undesirable situations.