ABSTRACT

In addition to literature reviews and research, this chapter is based on interviews with South Korean government officials and North Korean defectors in South Korea from 1998 to 1999. Defectors’ names have been altered to protect their identity. The views expressed in this chapter are those of the authors, and do not represent those of the U.S. government or the Department of State. that they expected acceptance and belonging in the South and were completely unprepared to deal with the reality. South Koreans, on the other hand, assumed that North Koreans would be able to adapt easily given similarities in language, culture, and a mutual history dating back centuries.