By Kim Se-jeong



Almost half of South Koreans would prefer that the government be more selective on whether to accept refugees from North Korea if the reclusive state collapses, according to a survey released Monday.



A survey of 1,000 people by the Korea Research Center and the Database for North Korea Human Rights (NKDB), found that 38.9 percent of respondents want the government to only allow in selected refugees if there was a massive influx of North Koreans.



These respondents said they feared a full acceptance of all refugees would place too much of a financial burden on South Koreans, and the South would not have facilities to shelter them all.



Another 8.7 percent said the refugees should be banned completely.



Forty-eight percent said they would welcome the refugees unconditionally because the refugees were Koreans.



"This indicates that many people are worried by the financial burden they may have to bear if the two Koreas are unified," NKDB President Yoon Yeo-sang said. "I am not surprised by this."



The survey also showed that most South Koreans were concerned about human rights in the North.



Only 6.5 percent of respondents said the human rights situation in North Korea was improving. Almost 40 percent thought the situation was deteriorating, while 45 percent said it remained about the same.



Asked what came to mind when thinking about North Korean human rights, the respondents cited public executions, followed by repatriation from China, political camps, human trafficking, the United Nations resolution on North Korean human rights, the International Criminal Court and Kim Jong-un's indictment.



They said international cooperation would be most important in resolving the problem. They were skeptical about the effectiveness of humanitarian aid to the North, with only 15 percent of the respondents agreeing with it.



As for conservative civic groups' sending leaflets to North Korea, half of the respondents said it did not help improve human rights in the North.



The survey comes after the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution on North Korean human rights on Thursday, calling for the situation to be referred to the International Criminal Court.



In Seoul, a domestic law on North Korean human rights awaits a parliamentary vote.



