The purpose of this research is to consider characteristics of political awareness of North Korean defector college students. Studies on political awareness have been variously conducted in each field and each group. Studies on political awareness of ...
The purpose of this research is to consider characteristics of political awareness of North Korean defector college students. Studies on political awareness have been variously conducted in each field and each group. Studies on political awareness of North Korean defector college students examine political awareness for significant minor group organizing this society and futhermore, can grasp political characteristics of experiencers in two systems tangled complicatedly and politically; South Korea and North Korea. So, they have special meaning. Now, North Korean defectors who settled in Korea and have enemies in college are estimated by about 1,500 people. College students who participated in the survey are 155 students which are about 10% of the whole North Korean defector college students and they are attending or taking a leave of absence in 29 colleges of the whole nation. Although they cannot represent North Korean defector college students, sampling is difficult due to the characteristics of North Korean defectors, 10% of the whole people is not few and there are insufficient studies on political awareness of North Korean defector college students, so this research is very significant.
To study on political awareness, it's essential to conceptualize sub-sectors. Therefore, this research referred the subjects of political awareness of precedent researches and investigated and analyzed political awareness by dividing into sub-sectors such as political interests, political participation, political tendency, political reliability and political efficacy.
First of all, for the political interests of North Korean defector college students, the majority responded positively, so they were relatively high. But, negative respondents were nearly the half. Therefore, it was difficult to characterize them clearly. Political participation also showed little differences between rate of positive reponses and rate of negative responses, so it was not different from political interests greatly. But, there were many respondents who responded positively relatively. Political tendency of North Korean defector college students showed different results by measured item. This research examined political tendency of North Korean defector college students by political party they support. As the result, the ratio of students who didn't have any political party was relatively high and among the rest respondents, there were a little more respondents supporting conservative political party rather than advanced political party. In addition, as questions for investigating their tendency, their attitude for North Korea was inquired. Regardless of the political tendency, most of North Korean defector college students considered North Korea as a cooperative object, so they were favorable to North Korea. The result is opposed to the common idea that North Korean defector college students will be political conservative and hostile to North Korea. Political reliability of North Korean defector college students was relatively high. Government related institution they trusted the mostly was Cheongwadae and government related institution they didn't trust the mostly was National Assembly. As they lived in Korea longer, their reliability was lower. Finally, political efficacy of North Korean defector college students was relatively high and particularly, they showed high efficacy for voting behavior and speaking right for government works.
When comparing indirectly political awareness of North Korean defector college students and that of Korean college students, the characteristics of political awareness of North Korean defector college students were that they considered North Korea as a cooperative object, political participation awareness and efficacy were relatively high, etc. But, from aspects of political interests and reliability, there were neither clear characteristics nor differences. Its reason is supposed that the part of politics is secondary problem in comparison with economics, studying, adaptation, etc. for North Korean defector college students, they were not interested in politics as a generation living with Korean 20s and 30s who are represented by the generation of ‘political indifference’. their awareness on the necessity to improve political awareness was insufficient, etc.
This research just investigated political awareness of North Korean defector college students and analyzed the characteristics, but it's significant to compare political awareness between North Korean defector college students and Korean general college students or be essential research for studying on characteristics of political awareness by generation of North Korean defector college students as a start of studies on this field. Studies on political awareness of North Korean defector college students as a group who has experienced South Korea and North Korea similarly and shows lots of possibilities to be a leading part of unification period in the future are in early stage now and they must be conducted in various directions in the future.