북한이주민에 대한 남한주민의 민족의식과 다문화의식

Abstract

This paper aims at examining empirically how national consciousness and multicultural consciousness of South Koreans affect their perceptions and attitudes toward North Korean migrants. More specifically, it tries to determine if South Koreans accept North Korean migrants as Korean nationals who share the same blood lineage or regard them as members of a multicultural minority group who have different characteristics from South Koreans. For this purpose, we used raw data collected from a sample survey of Korean national identity conducted in 2010 by the East Asia Institute and the Asiatic Research Institute. Main findings are as follows. Consciousness that South Koreans have in regard to North Korea and multiculturalism turned out to have greater effects on their perceptions, emotions, and prosocial behavior toward North Korean migrants than consciousness that they have in regard to Korean nation. More specifically, South Koreans’ national consciousness does have significant effects on their intimacy toward North Korean migrants, acceptance of North Korean refugees, and support of government policy toward North Korea. On the contrary, South Koreans’ consciousness toward North Korea and multiculturalism have significant effects on those issues. In other words, people who have more favorable attitudes toward North Korea and multiculturalism are more likely to feel intimacy toward North Korean migrants, ready to accept North Korean refugees, and to endorse government policy to support North Korea. One implication that we can draw from this research is that it is not sufficient to emphasize the same Korean nation and blood ties between North Korean migrants and South Korean residents. We also need to increase our multicultural sensitivity and capacity to manage cultural differences between North Korean migrants and South Korean residents to improve mutual perceptions and chances of coexistence.