적응'을 넘어서: 탈북 청소년 교육의 새로운 방향 모색

Abstract

An increasing number of North Korean adolescent refugees are coming to South Korea, and they are being plagued by multiple hardships and confusion to wrestle with. A variety of educational programs run by non-profit organizations are designed to help them settle down in the South Korean society, and these programs are bent on fortifying the adaptive capabilities of these adolescent refugees. But, these adolescent refugees are being rapidly marginalized since they are very much short-handed in social and cultural resources necessary for social success. As a result, most of them suffer much from the discrepancy between their dream for success and the hard reality they face. So, it has become necessary to examine the nature of the current educational practices geared toward expanding the adaptive capabilities of the young North Korean refugees. The current educational efforts have failed to provide the students with the opportunity to objectify and reflect on dominant culture of the South Korean society. Now a different kind of educational effort should be introduced which will help the adolescents build their own identity and culture based on their own experience and positionalities in the South Korean society. The objectification of the dominant culture of the South Korean society is a key step in helping the refugees develop their own subculture. The educational effort of this nature is also in line with the long-term socio-cultural integration between the two Koreas.