Caring for refugees of North Korea

INCHEON, Korea (UCAN) — Incheon diocese has set up a center to care for North Korean refugees and provide an education for their children. The center’s director is Stella Lim Sun-yun, S.C. (right)

Sister Lim told UCA News that every three weeks, Incheon diocese receives an average of six refugees from Hanawon, the government-run institution that offers resettlement support for North Korean refugees. She and volunteers visit them to teach basic knowledge on how to live in South Korea, especially how to use public agencies, banks and other facilities.

The center began operations on Aug. 1, thanks to members and volunteers of Incheon diocese’s Korea Reconciliation Committee, Sister Lim said. But the office is too small to conduct some programs, she added. Next year she plans to lease larger space in a residential area in Incheon, where many North Korean refugees live.

The Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill nun said their first priority is to provide a daycare program for the children of working refugee couples and study rooms and counseling programs for school students.

Luke Jeon Young-il, representative of North Korean refugees in the diocese, told UCA News on Sept. 14 that unemployment and financial difficulties are urgent and serious problems they face.

The 43-year-old, who became a Catholic in 1998, a year after he arrived in South Korea, estimated that around 800 North Korean refugees live in Incheon. “More than 80 percent of them are women who have gone through hunger and anxiety that they might be caught by police,” he noted.

The government supports North Korean refugees with 20 million won (about US$21,300) per family for resettlement, plus 350,000 won a month for six months. However, “most of the money is spent on lease deposits and rent for apartments, and many refugees become broke soon,” Jeon said.

He expressed hope that the center would help refugees find jobs and extend special care to women refugees by carefully counseling them and promoting psychological stability.

According to him, about 40 refugees, Catholics and others, have had monthly meetings at two parishes in Incheon since May 2006 to share information and fraternize.

An official of the Ministry of Unification told UCA News that as of June there were 10,937 registered North Koreans who had come to South Korea since the Korean War (1950-1953). In the first half of 2007, a monthly average of 200 refugees arrived in South Korea.