Hanawon, a crossroads of tragedy and hope for North Korean refugees

Seoul (AsiaNews / Agencies) - "I cried long after escaping from North Korea, where I left my son. After years, the tears have dried [...] now I want to rebuild my life in South Korea. " It is the testimony of a woman named Lim, one of thousands of North Korean refugees who have found a welcome in Hanawon.

Hanawon is a centre set up by the South Korean government in Anseong, Gyeonggi province, bordering the North. It is currently celebrating ten years of service, opening its doors to the public for the first time. Since 1999 more than 14 thousand refugees have completed the three month program to aid their integration into South Korean society. Initially it housed about 150 people today, including protective walls and security measures, it accommodates up to 750. A second government centre, for 250 refugees, has been set up in Yangju, in the northern part of the province.

According to the South Korean Unification Ministry, the 12-week, program is designed to help the refugees settle in the South. At Hanawon, they undergo 50 hours of physical examinations and psychological counselling. Another 135 hours are devoted to enculturation, in order to help the North Koreans find a place in a modern capitalist and competitive society. Refugees are finally offered the opportunity to learn a trade and guaranteed a sum of just over $ 2300 U.S.

At the end of July Lim will also leave the shelter of Hanawon, the woman describes the difficult years under the regime of Pyongyang and makes no secret about her fears and uncertainties for the future. "Life in North Korea has never been easy – she tells the South Korean daily Joongang Ilbo - but it worsened with the food crisis that hit the country during the nineties. I got married in 1996 and I had a child. Shortly after my husband died from a disease. I had been a factory worker, but with the birth of the child I left the job and tried to make ends meet by selling produce at a market”.

Her life turned grim after the North Korean government learned she had watched a smuggled South Korean movie on videotape in 2003. Two years later, Lim fled to China and came to South Korea only in February this year, crossing the nations of Southeast Asia. "First – adds the woman - I’ll find a part-time job, and study more to find a real job. I was told that South Korea is a country where you have to study a lot to survive".