/Yonhap



By Lee Jin-a

Nearaly 60 percent of North Korean defectors in South Korea regard themselves as "lower class," a survey showed.

According to last year's survey by the Unification Ministry and the Korea Hana Foundation, 62 percent of 2,444 defectors said they are "lower class", 35 percent said "middle class" while 1 percent responded they are from the "higher class."

The survey also asked South Koreans. Among respondents, 44 percent said they are from the "lower class," 53 percent from the "middle class" and 2 percent from the "higher class."

"Compared to the South Koreans, North Korean defectors are more likely to think of themselves as from the lower class," the Korea Hana Foundation said.

But most defectors (51 percent) considered themselves middle class when they were living in the military state. 43 percent thought they were from the "lower class" and 4 percent the "higher class" when they lived in North Korea.