NEWS WIRE: South Korea: Merry Year Foundation Offers Microfinance to Defectors from North Korea

PAJU, South Korea, July 28 – North Korean defectors, most of whom risk death in fleeing from their communist homeland, generally undergo a tumultuous period of adjustment upon arriving in the capitalist South.

Many of them say securing employment is their biggest challenge and settle for blue-collar jobs that don’t require advanced education, according to government reports.

Defying the trend and societal prejudices, a small but increasing number of defectors are not only aspiring to higher-paid employment but to one day own their own business. Merry Year Foundation (MYF), a non-profit body set up in late 2007 with a mission of providing micro credit loans and building social enterprises, is helping them realize that dream.

“I want to one day set up my own business to help other new defectors settle in the South,” said a 45-year-old male defector who asked to be identified by his surname Cho and works at Mezzanine Ecowon, a small manufacturing company established with the help of the foundation.

More than 16,000 North Koreans have settled in the South since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. The number of people crossing the border has risen annually, from 1,138 in 2002 to 2,809 last year. Some 70 percent of all defectors are women.

Cho arrived in the South in 2007 and is one of 29 defectors who work at the company, located north of Seoul, which was founded using funding from SK Energy Co. and the welfare ministry.

The company produces a variety of goods, ranging from shoes and sun screen to sophisticated automative systems in cars, and is where Cho and others are taught the entrepreneurial ropes.

“I think most of my fellow workers here are very competent, just given the fact that most of us have risked our lives to have a brighter future. We’re very eager to work and one day own our businesses and contribute back to society,” Cho said.

MYF also co-founded Mezzanine Ipack, a separate company that produces cardboard boxes and has 30 defectors out of the total 35 employees on its payroll. Workers in the company start out on the production line but are later promoted based on rigorous evaluations and performance among their peers.

“It’s not that the defectors lack in skill or management insights, but we make sure that they gain knowledge from the production level, as a crucial factor among heads of companies is that they must understand the product itself,” Kim Bum-suk, general director of MYF, said.

Officials at the foundation say that what they provide is more than jobs, but an extended education program for defectors to get on-site working experience and later acquire entrepreneurial skills.

The foundation, despite having been established just two years ago, has set an ambitious goal of ultimately producing at least three defector-turned-corporate executives annually from 2018.

Currently there are total of four social enterprises established to help train defectors from North Korea. Some 80 defectors are employed by the companies.

“Such defector-turned-entrepreneurs would be well prepared to do business in the North after the countries are united in the future,” said Kim.

Unification Minister Hyun In-taek visited the two MYF-funded companies on Tuesday to encourage the defectors and survey efforts by non-governmental organizations in embracing and nurturing them.

“I came to realize that such social enterprises are much needed and play a large role for defectors to settle in South Korea, providing the groundwork for a life here,” Hyun said after meeting with workers at Mezzanine Ecowon.

While many defectors are rebuilding their lives from scratch here in the South, they remain concerned for the families they left behind. Many say thinking of their loved ones is what motivates them to succeed here.

“I’ve fled my home country to find freedom,” said one woman defector who arrived in the South with all her family except a son who was serving in the North Korean military at the time of her defection.

“I want to succeed here in the South to be able to stand proud in front of my family in the North when we can meet again after the peninsula becomes unified.”

By Tony Chang, Yonhap News

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