North Korean refugee

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2019/08/197_274504.html

'How could she let herself starve to death?'

The South Korean government was trying to send $7 million in aid to North Korea, but that the money would be better spent by directly helping North Korean refugees pay off their debts or to send money to relatives still in North Korea. I didn't think to add that the money could be spent on helping North Korean refugees on the brink of starvation.

 

In talking to North Korean refugees, I noticed that there were two main contrasting points of analysis.

Politically-minded refugees blamed the North and South Korean governments, with South Korea's Moon Jae-in getting the blunt of the blame.

 

Helping North Korean refugees is mainly government work. There are limits to what government policy can or should do. The government is great at blowing stuff up and battling with other governments, but individuals get lost at the government level. The various levels of South Korean government seem to be teaching North Korean refugees learned helplessness, infantilizing them with top-down, one-size-fits-all services.

 

The various levels of South Korean government seem to be teaching North Korean refugees learned helplessness, infantilizing them with top-down, one-size-fits-all services.  In working with North Korean refugees for the past seven years, I have concluded that many government policies set them up for failure.

 

Discrimination and prejudice are often blamed, and they are certainly major factors, but companies also prefer not to hire from the bottom of the barrel.