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The number of university students born in North Korea is rising as refugee numbers here increase to 13,000. According to Unification Ministry figures, 448 North Korean defectors are enrolled at 104 universities in the South.
They could be seen as a sort of barometer determining how well North Korean defectors adjust to life in South Korea.
Their fears and anxieties are no different than those felt by their South Korean-born counterparts at college. The Weekly Chosun spoke to North Koreans at Sogang University about their most pressing worries, and 35 cited grades, English language proficiency and part-time jobs as their most pressing concerns. But they said the pressure they felt in those areas was far greater than for their South Korean counterparts.
Grades are the prime concern for the North Korean students, since they are often not as financially secure as students born here. If their grades do not meet a required level, then they are no longer eligible for support from the government and universities. But they said they found classes in the South to be difficult and full of ˇ°unfamiliarˇ± terminology. One junior at Sogang University said there were many times during his freshman year that lectures were completely incomprehensible.
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North Korean defectors at Sogang University initially did not wish to be photographed due to fears that their family members back North would be harmed due to their exposure. But the eventually allowed themselves to be snapped, and the pictures show they are no different than cheerful youngsters in any other country.
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Most of the situations in South Korea that dumbfound students from North Korea involve English. One graduate from Hanyang University said he was unable to understand half the foreign words his first girlfriend in the South used. He said repeated incidents like that eventually forced them to break up.
For North Korean defectors studying in South Korea, part-time jobs are the most interesting part about life in the South and something they keep up throughout their four years in college. For people who have lived most of their lives under a socialist system, getting paid for work is in itself a strange and challenging experience, but of course the main reason is that they need the money.
Friends are often what these students need most, but they say it is not easy forming close relationships with South Korean students. Most of the North Koreans who took part in the interviews admitted that their South Korean counterparts tended to treat them as people from another country rather than as fellow Koreans.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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