Factors impeding the successful settlement of female adolescent immigrants from North Korea and measures to support them

Despite the fact that about 70% of the rapidly surging number of North Korean refugees are made up of women and that about a third of the total are adolescents, the South Korean government’ s policy on North Korean refugees lacks both gender perspective and adolescent-focused policies. With this in mind, this research project conducted in-depth interviews with 30 female adolescent immigrants from North Korea and performed focus group interviews with 25 experts on adolescent North Korean refugees in order to examine the state of their lives and the difficulties they faced in their adjustment to South Korean society. According to this research, female North Korean adolescents have experienced a gendered process of escape from North Korea, threat of human rights impingement during the process, family disintegration and related family conflicts, emotional scars, and deprivation of educational opportunities and maladaptation to the South Korean school system. Based on these identified issues, this research suggests the establishment of a gender-sensitive support system for North Korean refugees, expansion of service for adolescents in local adaptation support centers, the strengthening of support for unaccompanied adolescent female refugees, and the introduction of an emergency intervention system for such at-risk North Korean refugees.