Gov’t draws up measures to better support N. Korean defectors

The unification ministry on Thursday approved a package of support measures aimed at helping North Korean defectors better adjust to life in South Korea. The measures, approved in an interagency meeting, include giving priority child care assistance to working mothers and expanding education support for children of defectors born overseas, according to the ministry. The ministry also plans to substantially raise resettlement funds for new defectors and push to expand the employment of defectors in the public sector and give incentives to companies that hire them, it said. South Korea, which is home to more than 34,000 North Korean defectors, has a longstanding policy of accepting any North Korean defectors who wish to live in the South. The inflow of defectors has continued amid chronic food shortages and harsh political oppression in the North. In the first half of the year, the number of North Korean defectors arriving in the South reached 105, slightly up from 99 the previous year. This year, South K orea designated July 14 as the official day for North Korean defectors. The date marks the enactment of the law on protecting North Korean defectors and supporting their settlement, which came into effect on this date in 1997. Source : Yonhap News Agency