Why South Korea treats North Korean defectors differently to other refugees

Ethnic nationalism, culture likely major reasons

Markus Bell May 10, 2019

Why South Korea treats North Korean defectors differently to other refugees

Image: Korea_Liberation_Day_12 - Republic of Korea - Creative Commons

A year on from the sudden arrival of some 500 Yemeni refugees on the resort island of Jeju, it is worth asking why non-North Korean refugees are generally not as accepted in South Korea.

What does South Korea’s failure to provide moral leadership in the face of a global refugee crisis tell us about entrenched ideologies of ethnic nationalism in one of the region’s wealthiest liberal democratic states?

About the Author

Markus Bell

Dr. Markus Bell is a Research Fellow at La Trobe University. He has published broadly on politics and social change in East Asia, and has lectured at The Australian National University, Goethe University Frankfurt and the University of Sheffield. His new book, Outsiders: Memories of Migration to and from North Korea, is available from Oct. 2021. Find him on Twitter @mpsbell

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