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North Korean Defectors as Cultural Other in South Korea: Perception and Construction of Cultural Differences
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- Authors
- Issue Date
- 2022-03-01
- Citation
- Asian Journal of Peacebuilding, Vol.10 No.1, pp. 185-213
- Keywords
- North Korean defectors ; cultural difference ; ethnicity ; South Korea ; cultural other
- Abstract
- With around 34,000 North Korean defectors having arrived in South Korea (as
of June, 2021), perceptions toward them remain ambiguous and unbalanced. The
dominant discourse about North Korean defectors centers on adaptation, and
cultural difference is often identified as one of the most challenging obstacles.
This article examines how a specific conceptualization of culture is utilized to
alienate North Korean defectors, while securing the belief in a single ethnicity of
all Koreans. As a result, North Korean defectors are rendered as cultural other in
South Korean society. While cultural difference is often believed to be the basis of
discrimination for North Korean defectors, this article argues that social prejudice
and discrimination reproduce and reinforce the discourse about cultural difference
of North Korean defectors.
- ISSN
- 2288-2707
- Language
- English
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