The real reason North Korea refugees – not defectors – struggle

Those who escape the North are from the less educated, less skilled, less politically engaged class

As of January 1, 2015, there were 27,518 North Korean defectors in South Korea.Well, this statistic, provided by the Ministry of Unification, is somewhat misleading: The figure includes all cases of defection since the Armistice Agreement of 1953. Some of the refugees have died (though not many, since 90 percent arrived after 2000), and others have moved to third countries, so the actual number must be a bit lower.This is rather significant community, but it cannot be seen as particularly successful. Indeed, the adjustment to a new life in the South is not easy for the majority of refugees. It suffices to say that