This study investigates the care experiences of North Korean women migrants who have lived a daily life of disasters to understand the care experiences of vulnerable people in the social disaster of the COVID-19 pandemic. As "social distancing" contin...
This study investigates the care experiences of North Korean women migrants who have lived a daily life of disasters to understand the care experiences of vulnerable people in the social disaster of the COVID-19 pandemic. As "social distancing" continued and the public care system did not work properly, the problem of care, which has been pointed out as a major factor in gender inequality, has become a more urgent problem. In particular, North Korean women migrants who (in)voluntarily formed transnational families in the process of migration are likely to experience special difficulties in caring during such disaster situations, so understanding their vulnerabilities and current care problems is also a necessary process to understand the crisis of care revealed by COVID-19.
To this end, the care they experience in the context of the lives of North Korean women who have migrated from North Korea to China and South Korea was analyzed. Women who migrated from North Korea grew up experiencing a violent patriarchal system and a decifit in caring and learning in daily lives of disasters caused by economic crisis. In the process, the internalized motherhood ideology has become driving force to endure the difficulties of caring and take sacrifices for granted. The experience of violent patriarchy led to abuse of children, causing delays in their children's development. The burden of care was increased because North Korean women had to continue their studies belatedly while taking care of their children but due to the absence of relatives, intensive care for children had to be carried out alone.
Nevertheless, North Korean women migrants are living in daily lives of disasters through their own strategies. In particular, while receiving emotional comfort through the relationship of "strong ties," it is taking on the burden of caring at home alone by sealing the conflict in care sharing through traditional gender ideology.
As migrants, North Korean women were required to play another role in caring for mediating language and cultural differences or managing intimacy between transnational families. North Korean women migrants had to have a greater burden of care decifit during the re-familization of care burden in the COVID-19 due to the absence of relatives. In addition, "digital parenting" required in the ‘Untact’ time has become a chllenge for North Korean women with low digital literacy. Border blockades caused by the pandemic raised the cost of remittances of transnational families for North Korean women migrants, increasing the burden of caring costs. In addition, the relationship of "weak ties," which had already revealed its vulnerability, especially with South Koreans, has been cut off, raising the possibility that various opportunities will be blocked.
In the COVID-19, North Korean women were living in a daily life of disaster through their own strategies. In particular, they were receiving emotional comfort through the relationship of ‘strong ties.’ Traditional gender ideology resolved the conflict between care-sharing and took on the burden of care in the home alone. However, hidden behind these strategies is frustration with the spouse who is passive in caring or the guilt as a mother for a distant child.
There was little need for socialization of care among North Korean women migrants. This may be because they are repeatedly in a disaster situation and have different reference points and senses for inequality. For the righteous sharing of increased care burden to north Korean women migrants, it is necessary to pay attention to their care experiences.