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International Response for Defectors

North Korean migrants face psychological difficulties on their journey as defectors that affects them in the long run. During the North Korean famine, the international response included providing food, asylum, and economic development initiatives. Since the famine that caused between 240,000 to 420,000 total deaths, the quality of living conditions has since deteriorated for nearly two decades now, annual fatalities estimated at 600,000 to 850,000 which can attribute to the economic decline Post Cold War era Since then, however, defectors face challenges from neighboring countries. Some countries accept the defectors with programs to assimilate them, while others believe they do not need to provide them.

United Nations

The term “integration" is a conceptual word that attunes itself according to the political climate of the country. There is not a single universal definition of integration in which the international community abides by, turning it into a catastrophic grey area. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has acknowledged this issue, particularly on the account of North Korean defectors. Former UNHCR consultant, Alexander Betts, discusses North-South linkages that affect global refugees. It is contested that hegemonic countries must depolarize to create solutions even if there are no incentives in the end. The UNHCR’s definition for protracted refugee situations is:

“one in which refugees find themselves in a long-lasting and intractable state of limbo. Their lives may not be at risk, but their basic rights and essential economic, social and psychological needs remain unfulfilled after years in exile. A refugee in this situation is often unable to break free from enforced reliance on external assistance.” Although the definition was created on the basis of African refugees, it has the ability to be applied to North Korean defectors. The human security situation in North Korea has fluctuated, with food security being a primary issue, resulting in a large number of migrants from the country. Human rights analysts have begun to propose that human security should be viewed as an alternative perspective from which to examine the problems of North Korean migrants by UNHCR. Through this new framework, the understanding of population mobility within and outside of North Korea as something more than a simple threat to overall stability.