Forced Migration Online: Blog

FMO’s latest resource summary highlights a selection of web-based resources that focus on both on South Korean refugee policy and on the status of refugees from North Korea.

Links are provided to full-text documents, journal articles, external resources, and organizations.

South Korea joined the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees in 1992 and recognised its first refugee in 2001. Due to its democratic political system and successful economic growth in the 1980s, South Korea has seen a recent increase in the number of refugees claiming asylum.

The South Korean constitution stipulates that all North Koreans are entitled to South Korean citizenship. North Koreans are therefore admitted under a resettlement program that includes basic job training, healthcare services and financial subsidies. Due to this policy, the UNHCR considers North Koreans to be ‘persons of concern’ rather than refugees.

• Resource summary

A Podcast of the Oxford event is now online.

The first of its kind, this book provides a rare and unique inside look into the hidden world of ordinary North Koreans. Mike Kim, who worked with refugees on the Chinese border for four years, recounts their experiences of enduring famine, sex-trafficking, and torture, as well as the inspirational stories of those who overcame tremendous adversity to escape the repressive regime of their homeland and make new lives.

In Escaping North Korea, One of the few Americans granted entry into the secretive “Hermit Kingdom,” Kim came to know the isolated country and its people intimately. His North Korean friends entrusted their secrets to him as they revealed the government’s brainwashing tactics and confessed their true thoughts about the repressive regime that so rigidly controls their lives. Civilians and soldiers alike spoke of what North Koreans think of Americans and war with America. Children remembered the suffering they endured through the famine. Women and girls recalled their horrific sex-trafficking experiences. Former political prisoners shared their memories of beatings, torture, and executions in the gulags.

Oxford
10th March 2009, 7.30pm – 9.00pm
Nissan Lecture Theatre
St Antony’s College
University of Oxford
Organised in association with the Refugee Studies Centre, Oxford Department of International Development

London
11th March 2009, 7.00pm – 9.00pm
Room G50
The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London
Organised in association with the SOAS Amnesty Group

• Oxford event on Forced Migration Online
• Oxford event flyer (PDF file)
• London event flyer (PDF file)
• Podcast (Oxford event)
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