Seoul City to Implement 'Comprehensive Support Plan for North Korean Defectors' with 20 Projects in 5 Key Areas... Support for Full Independence and Social Integration

Considering Health Characteristics of North Korean Defectors, Start of 'Comprehensive Health Checkup' Including Psychological Tests for Trauma, Also Supporting Caregiving Costs
‘Visiting Home Care’ for Families in Psychological and Emotional Crisis, Free Education and Mentoring for North Korean Defector Youth 'Seoul Run'

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government will provide comprehensive support for the complete self-reliance and social integration of North Korean defectors, moving beyond fragmented settlement assistance. Starting this year, the city will offer customized health checkups considering the health characteristics of defectors, such as musculoskeletal CT scans and tuberculosis screenings, and will launch a ‘Visiting Family Care’ service in June for families facing issues like domestic violence and poverty.

On the 21st, Seoul announced that it will implement the 'Comprehensive Support Plan for North Korean Defectors,' consisting of 20 projects across five major areas. This year, 3.4 billion KRW will be invested, an increase of 1.5 billion KRW compared to the previous year. This marks the first comprehensive plan in nine years since 2013, when the city first established a plan to support the early settlement of North Korean defectors. The core of the plan is to shift the policy paradigm from fragmented settlement support to complete self-reliance and social integration.

The five major areas of the Comprehensive Support Plan for North Korean Defectors are ▲Expansion of life-centered settlement service support ▲Support for closing educational gaps and fostering healthy family formation ▲Support for self-reliance and self-sufficiency through job creation ▲Operation of harmonious and inclusive social integration programs ▲Strengthening support infrastructure and cooperation systems.

First, to ensure a ‘healthy life,’ which is a prerequisite for the settlement and self-reliance of North Korean defectors, the city will expand life-centered settlement service support such as medical services. Considering the health characteristics and risk diseases of defectors, a customized health checkup package including psychological tests will be implemented first for 200 people aged 14 and older in the first half of the year. If additional treatment is needed based on the health checkup results, non-covered medical expenses (up to 2.5 million KRW per year) and nursing care costs (up to 1 million KRW per year) will also be supported.

The health checkup institutions will be expanded beyond the existing four municipal hospitals (Seoul Medical Center, Boramae Medical Center, Dongbu Hospital, Seonam Hospital) to include private screening institutions by maximizing the use of community resources. Additionally, free dental care, which is highly favored by defectors (up to 4 million KRW for dentures, and up to 2.5 million KRW for prosthetics and implants), will continue to be provided. Support for basic living goods (small home appliances such as TVs and fans) for households newly registered in Seoul after graduating from Hanawon will be increased from the previous 700,000 KRW to 1 million KRW this year, considering inflation.

Furthermore, support will be provided to help North Korean defectors achieve emotional stability and improve their quality of life within healthy family relationships. The ‘Visiting Family Care’ project will start in June for families experiencing psychological and emotional crises such as domestic violence, poverty, and delayed child development. The project identifies families with children under 18 or those needing emotional treatment for trauma, and counseling experts visit them directly to provide counseling and case management, linking them to necessary psychological, educational, and welfare services.

To support ‘learning and academic’ needs, which North Korean defector youth have identified as their top priority, free educational services will be provided through ‘Seoul Learn’ starting this year. Defector youth tend to have a higher dropout rate compared to general youth due to learning gaps during defection and differences in educational systems between North and South Korea.

Job support policies for the true self-reliance and self-sufficiency of North Korean defectors will also be strengthened. According to a survey on defectors’ living conditions, one in four (25.1%) cited ‘employment and entrepreneurship support’ as necessary for a better life in South Korea. Within this year, the city will recruit and select ‘MOM Coordinators’ for public jobs (New Deal jobs). Majors such as social welfare and psychological counseling will be linked to institutions or fieldwork supporting defectors to gain experience and receive employment support. In the first half of the year, specialized coaching personnel will be trained to assist with emotional healing and counseling for defectors, supporting their future employment as counselors.

To support employment for female defectors, whose employment rate is relatively low, the city will collaborate with the ‘Women’s Capacity Development Center’ and others in the second half of the year to discover jobs, provide education, career guidance, counseling, job placement, and promotion. Although women make up 76.1% of North Korean defectors, their employment rate is relatively low at 49.3%.

Additionally, to help socially marginalized North Korean defectors integrate as members of the local community, ‘social integration’ programs will be actively promoted in the first half of the year. The goal is to help defectors settle in the community by strengthening emotional and psychological support bases through shared volunteer work and club activities with local residents. The city plans to implement this through a public contest (360 million KRW) targeting experienced defector support organizations and comprehensive social welfare centers in the first half of the year. The contest will be divided into two areas: ▲Exchange activities with local residents ▲Improvement of public awareness of North Korean defectors.

Support infrastructure for North Korean defectors will also be strengthened from initial settlement to self-reliance and interaction and cooperation with local residents. The city will support capacity building for four ‘Regional Adaptation Centers’ that operate adaptation and support programs for defectors newly registered in Seoul and will activate city and district-level regional councils for defector support. Additionally, indicators for identifying vulnerable and at-risk households will be developed in collaboration with the Seoul Institute in the first half of the year to be used for discovering welfare blind spots and selecting support recipients.

Gibongho, Acting Director of the Inter-Korean Cooperation Promotion Division, said, “Although we have implemented support policies for North Korean defectors, we have been lacking in efforts to eliminate their sense of alienation and to foster harmony and integration.” He added, “Through this comprehensive support plan, we will do our utmost to ensure that the approximately 6,800 defectors who have endured hardships to find freedom and hope and have settled in Seoul can live happily as Seoul citizens.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.