This study aims to suggest implications on educational directions for nurturing citizenship of North Korean adolescent migrants. This analysis is based on surveys conducted on North Korean adolescent migrants in South Korea to figure out their current...
This study aims to suggest implications on educational directions for nurturing citizenship of North Korean adolescent migrants. This analysis is based on surveys conducted on North Korean adolescent migrants in South Korea to figure out their current state of citizenship and main factors of forming their citizenship.
The citizenship is classified into democratic value, belief and behavior sector, and civic participation sector. The survey results show that citizenship of North Korean adolescent migrants in democratic value, belief and behavior sector is relatively high, while their citizenship in civic participation sector is lower than average. Such trends are similar to those of South Korean teenagers.
The characteristics of the democratic value, belief and behavior sector of North Korean adolescent migrants tend to be highly supportive for the freedom rights. In particular, they tend to strongly object to restrictions on human rights of suspects who were charged for threatening national security. However, they do not tend to strongly object to media companies which business companies or governments own, and political leaders whose family members take up public offices. The distinct feature of North Korean adolescent migrants in civic participation sector is that they have a weak will to take part in political resistance activities.
Followings are main factors that affect formulating citizenship of North Korean adolescent migrants.
Male North Korean adolescent migrants tend to show lower state of consciousness of gender equality and racial equality while their consciousness of national identity is in higher state. The older they are, the higher their consciousness of gender equality is characterized. The North Korean adolescent migrants who have stayed in third countries for longer period of time tend to show higher consciousness of equal rights for migrants. However, their will to partake in political resistance activities and their political efficacy tend to be shown low.
The survey was found that the higher North Korean adolescent migrants’ educational degree is, in other words, those who have spent more time in receiving education in North Korea tend to show weaker will to take part in illegal politic resistance activities in South Korea and also show weaker will to participate in political and social activities as a youth at present.
The North Korean adolescent migrants who have stayed in South Korea for longer period of time tend to show weaker will to take part in future political activities. In addition, their national identity, their credibility on public organizations, and their political efficacy tend to get lower.
North Korean adolescent migrants’ experiences of political socialization in South Korea have positively affected their democratic value, awareness of their rights, awareness of importance of good citizenship, overall consciousness of social equality, consciousness of racial equality, consciousness of migrants’ equality, national identity, attachment and awareness to the nation, credibility on public organizations, efficacy in politics, participatory will to political resistance activities, legal protesting activities, participatory will to illegal protesting activities, participatory will to current political activities, and participatory will to future political activities. Their experiences of political socialization in South Korea out of all other independent variables have most greatly influenced the development of their overall citizenship.
North Korean adolescent migrants who are educated by alternative schools in South Korea are characterized that their participatory will to illegal political resistance activities tends to be relatively high, however, their awareness of democratic value and rights, awareness of importance in good citizenship, overall consciousness of social equality and gender equality, racial equality consciousness, and migrants’ equality tend to show relatively low.
To summarize, the North Korean adolescent migrants’ experiences of political socialization in South Korea have the most positive and strong impact on building their citizenship. These will be the most important variable that should be reflected in educating North Korean adolescent migrants in the future for nurturing their citizenship. The survey result also suggests that more efforts are required to develop citizenship of North Korean adolescent migrants who are educated by alternative schools in South Korea so that their negative variables can be improved.
Fostering youth generation to desirable democratic citizens is the most important task for South Korean society to maintain more stabilized democracy and to promote further development of the democracy. In particular, it is important for schools and society in South Korea to provide democratic civic education programs for North Korean adolescent migrants who have been raised in the socialist system, North Korea so that they can develop their citizenship at present as well as in future preparations for internal integration of the two Koreas through integration of their respective social values.
As a result, this study suggests that schools and society in South Korea make more efforts to provide various ways with contexts of democratic civic education programs for North Korean adolescent migrants by reflecting their characteristics of civic consciousness.