Session Information
Contribution
Immigrant groups such as illegal aliens or intermarriage women who came from Southeast Asian nations are minority groups in South Korea leading to multicultural society rapidly. Among them, North Korean defectors show highly distinguished aspiration of paving their future, and motivations to attain education.
This thesis is a research on meanings of higher education to North Korean university students in South Korea. In the past, such ''defectors'' were only recognized as political dissidents, and their identities confined to be interpreted in ideological terms. In post mid-1990s, the aggravated famine and economic crisis in North Korea has led increasing number of North Korean expatriates flow into South Korea and recast the light on the North Korean defectors, as "refugees."
South Korean governments and other organizations in private sector have provided North Korean defectors with a wide range of supports to cope with the changes in quality and quantity of North Korean defectors. These study efforts have hardly been made with regard to observing higher education as a strategy of immigrant minority groups with North Korean defectors going to a university in South Korea. this study is to develop the understandings of North Korean defectors as members of immigrant minority group' experience in the university life.
North Koreans may see higher education is the most successful tool for him/her to prevent from discrimination. These North Korean migrants internalize the rules of capitalism by attaining higher education for competitive reason. Moreover they prefer to apply for special assessment as affirmative action to earn a diploma of prestige universities easily.
* North Korean migrant
In 1999, Ministry of Unification defined a North Korean migrant as “a person who leaves his/her own census register, family members and/or work place, and does not acquire any citizenship.” According to this law, anyone of them who wants to belong to South Korea can be a North Korean migrant. In this study, a North Korean migrant means only who comes to and lives in South Korea.
Becoming South Korean citizens North Korean migrants are having lived for weeks or even years of unstable and dangerous lives abroad before entering South Korea. Moreover after the coming into South Korea, they have to have the time to adapt themselves to new circumstances. Finally they must be late to go to a university, so they may be older than other students.
North Korean migrants are not a negative existence like a prejudice anymore in this study, and they are very active to have a strategy for their successful settlement in South Korea. In addition there has been a recent surge of North Koreans leaving their home country by personal motivations. Attaining information on South Korea long before leaving the North, North Korean immigrants are fully aware and desirous of the resources and opportunities. Accordingly, this thesis seeks to stipulate the term ''North Korean defector'' under the concept of diaspora also motivated relocate to a different society to change their life.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Jo, Yongwhan(1999). Qualitative Research: Methods and Cases. Seoul: Kyoyookbook. Han, Mangil(1999). The Adjustment of North Korean Refugee Adolescents in South Korea. Seoul: The Korean Educational Development Institute.
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