Why is the government changing the official way of referring to defectors?
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One of the questions I was asked most often as I settled in South Korea was whether I preferred to be called a defector (talbukmin), an escapee from the North (bukhan-ital-jumin), or a new settler (saetemin).
The answer depends on each person’s values and opinions. Some feel the “new settler” term makes us sound like immigrants. As such, it carries no negative connotation. But not everyone likes it. They ask, “If we’re new settlers, then are the people who have always lived in the South old settlers?”
From a societal perspective, it may seem necessary to have a term to categorize people like me who were born in North Korea. But many of us simply want to live as ordinary South Korean citizens.
The reason this debate has resurfaced is because the current administration is considering changing the official term. On December 23, Minister of Unification Chung Dong-young announced that the government would soon finalize a proposal to replace the terms bukhan-ital-jumin and talbukmin with bukhyangmin (“people oriented toward the North”). The reasoning was simple: some escapees dislike the term talbukmin because it contains the meaning “to escape.” That’s fair. But there is a reason bukhan-ital-jumin is used as the official legal designation. It explicitly acknowledges that they “escaped the North Korean regime.”
The term talbukmin also reflects the identity of defectors. They risked their lives to flee not because they merely disliked living there, but because survival was impossible. Calling them bukhyangmin – literally “people whose hometown is the North”- is no different from calling someone born in Seoul a “Seoul native.” This is why some defectors criticize the new term. They see it as an attempt to erase their identity.
Minister Chung argued that the term talbuk (“to escape the North”) carries a negative nuance and claimed that “all defectors reject the current terminology,” insisting that the name must be changed. But did the Ministry of Unification actually confirm the opinions of all 34,000 defectors?
“It looks like the government is trying to curry favor with North Korea,” a defector named Chae said. “The term bukhyangmin is no different from the term used for displaced people who fled South during the Korean War in the 1950s. Removing the word ‘defection’ strips us of our identity. Calling us bukhyangmin just makes us ‘people who left their hometown,’ which feels like acknowledging the North Korean system and denying the reality of defection.”
Choi, 60, who holds a PhD in North Korean regional studies and now works as a counselor at a high school, said, “Changing the term from talbukmin to bukhyangmin seems like an attempt to distort the background of those who fled North Korea due to human rights abuses. The official legal term bukhan-ital-jumin reminds society that defectors risked their lives to escape the regime’s human rights violations. Changing it looks like a desperate attempt by the current administration to do anything to reopen dialogue with North Korea.”
“The minister spoke as though all defectors agreed with the name change, but this is already causing controversy,” she said. “He did not conduct surveys or gather opinions from defectors. I heard he visited the Hanawon resettlement center and asked new arrivals who know nothing about South Korean society yet. These individuals are accustomed to North Korea’s rigid power hierarchy. Asking them for their opinion and then claiming it represents all defectors is an abuse of power.”
These recent defectors in Hanawon, who have not even received their South Korean ID cards, are in a vulnerable position. Naturally, they would give the answer the minister wanted. The fact that several defector organizations have publicly opposed the change proves the alleged survey is unrepresentative.
“The expression bukhyang (‘toward the North’) risks misleading people into thinking defectors, who came south seeking freedom, are instead ‘heading north,’” the National Association of North Korean Defectors said in a statement.
Former lawmaker Thae Yong-ho, who was a high-ranking diplomat before he defected, also criticized the proposal. “This is a policy that has no support within the defector community,” he said. “The term talbuk expresses rejection and hostility toward the North Korean system. Bukhyangmin removes that nuance.”
Despite the controversy, why is the administration pushing for a change? Experts say the it suits its conciliatory stance toward North Korea and desire to resume dialogue.
It is puzzling that the ruling party, which was previously active in forcibly repatriating defectors, withholding the North Korean Human Rights Report, and delaying the launch of the North Korean Human Rights Foundation, now invokes “social perception” to justify changing the term. If this is meant to facilitate dialogue with North Korea, it reduces defectors’ dignity and legal status to a bargaining chip.
Creating a new term only fuels social controversy and reveals the administration’s distorted perception of defectors.
Jia defected from North Korea in search of basic freedoms, including the right to travel and freely express herself. Her identity as a North Korean has given her a sense of responsibility to represent the voices of her family and hometown friends and is also the reason she has chosen to work as a journalist.
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