Yoonok Chang () (Hansei University, Foreign Language Education Center, Department of Graduate Education) Stephan Haggard () (University of California, San Diego Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies) Marcus Noland () (Peterson Institute for International Economics)
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Chronic food shortages, political repression, and poverty have driven tens of thousands of North Koreans into China. This paper reports results from a large-scale survey of this refugee population. The survey provides insight not only into the material circumstances of the refugees but also into their psychological state and aspirations. One key finding is that many North Korean refugees suffer severe psychological stress akin to post-traumatic stress disorder. This distress is caused in part by their vulnerability in China, but it is also a result of the long shadow cast by the North Korean famine and abuses suffered at the hands of the North Korean political regime: first and foremost, perceptions of unfairness with respect to the distribution of food aid, death of family members during the famine, and incarceration in the North Korean gulag, where the respondents reported witnessing forced starvation, deaths due to torture, and even infanticide and forced abortions. These traumas, in turn, affect the ability of the refugees to hold jobs in China and accumulate resources for on-migration to third countries. Most of the refugees want to permanently resettle in South Korea, though younger, better-educated refugees prefer the United States as a final destination.
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Find related papers by JEL classification: P2 - Economic Systems - - Socialist Systems and Transition Economies P3 - Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
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