사회적 위협 인식과 북한이탈주민에 대한 사회적 거리

Perceived Threats and South Korean's Attitude toward North Korean Defectors

이 연구는 남한 주민들이 북한이탈주민에 대한 느끼는 사회적 거리감이 위협 인식(perceived threat)에 의해 영향을 받고 있는지 경험적으로 분석한다. 2007-2015년 통일의식조사 자료를 활용하여, 사회적 위협 인식이 높아질수록 외집단이자 사회적 소수자인 북한이탈주민에 대한 배타적 태도가 확대될 것이라는 가설을 검증하였다. 회귀분석을 실시한 결과 첫째, 북한이탈주민에 대한 거리감은 남한 주민들이 인지하는 사회적 위협의 수준이 높을수록 더 확대되는 것으로 나타났다. 둘째, 북한이탈주민으로 인한 집합적 위협과 더불어 남한의 사회환경 위협, 즉 빈부격차나 실업 문제가 더 심각하다고 생각할수록 북한이탈주민에 대한 친근감이 줄어든다. 셋째, 20대 연령층에 대한 분석에서 인지된 위협의 효과는 더욱 뚜렷하게 나타난다. 특히 2013년 이후 청년들은 실업 문제에 대한 우려가 높을수록 북한이탈주민을 더욱 소원하게 느끼는 경향이 두드러진다. 과도한 경쟁과 취업 위기에 직면한 청년들의 구조화된 무력감이 사회적 소수자에 배타적인 태도를 확산시킬 우려가 있다고 하겠다. 이러한 분석 결과는 북한이탈주민의 수용뿐 아니라 앞으로 통일 전망 및 통일 준비 과정에서 사회통합의 중요성을 환기시키는 의미가 있다.

This paper analyses South Korean's attitude toward North Korean defectors focusing on the influence of ‘perceived threats’. Based on survey data sets collected from 2007 to 2015, this research organizes several regression model to investigate whether perceived threats of South Korean respondents intensify their exclusive attitude toward North Korean defectors. Now there are almost 29,000 North Korean defectors living in South Korea. They have multiple and often contradictory positions in South Korean society. On the one hand, they are legal citizens and the same blood brothers, but on the other hand, they are refugees or migrants who have to adapt to a new host society. This research suggests that prejudice against minority groups like North Korean defector is not only reinforced by explicit political and economic factors such as increased labor market competition and conflicts around additional policy costs to support minorities. It is also important to examine that respondent's perception of social threats, sense of insecurity, concerns about unemployment and unstable future may provoke mechanisms of contra-identification to put minority groups out of majority’s boundary of community. The result of regression analysis shows that the scale of social distance toward North Korean defectors inclines to extend when respondents' level of perceived threats increases. However, respondent's occupation and education background show no significant impact in our regression model. This means that exclusive attitudes toward minorities tend to be reinforced if ordinary people are more worried about instability and insecurity in their everyday lives. It is also found that the effect of perceived threat is more significant among young respondents in their twenties. Young people who are more concerned about unemployment crisis, especially since 2013 survey, incline to have negative attitudes toward North Korean defectors. This result implies that competitive social conditions in South Korea may increase young people's perceptions of powerlessness which in turn amplify exclusive attitude toward minorities and out-groups such as North Korean defectors. It also supports for the importance of policy measures including education programs to enhance the value of multicultural coexistence among young generation and also social inclusion of North Korean defectors.