The Construction and Embodiment of Dis/Ability for North Korean Refugees living in South Korea

Background/Context: Every year, an unknown number of North Koreans flee their homeland. As of 2020, 33,752 North Koreans had arrived in South Korea. The political positioning of North Korean refugees in South Korean society is unique from other immigrants, in that they receive immediate South Korean citizenship and are considered members of the same ethnic group as South Koreans. However, North Korean refugees face discrimination in South Korea, including in schools. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: This paper extends the use of the intersectional analytical framework, disability critical race theory (DisCrit), outside of western settings to the Korean context. The purpose is to analyze the schooling experiences of North Korean refugees in South Korea. We provide a background about the divide between the nations of North and South Korea and discuss how this divide contributes to North Korean refugees’ position as outsiders. We also situate discrimination faced by North Korean refugees within South Korea as a broader response to changing demographics, by highlighting the experiences of immigrants and South Korean multicultural education policy. Drawing upon the voices of North Korean refugees, we analyze how the discrimination they experience constructs them as less capable and valued than their South Korean peers. Research Design: This paper reports the findings of a qualitative study that analyzes data from semi-structured interviews of North Korean refugees in South Korea. The interviews focus on participants’ schooling experiences in mainstream schools, at an alternative school, and in their transition to postsecondary education. Conclusions/Recommendations: Our analysis demonstrates how North Korean refugee students are positioned as dis/abled and come to embody disabling conditions as a result of discrimination based on their ethnicized North Korean identity in South Korea. The construction of North Korean refugees as dis/abled reflects the dominance of the ideals of South Korean ethnicity and an educational ideology that promotes assimilation for economic growth. We conclude by discussing the impact of normalizing processes of ethnocentrism, racism, and ableism, and the potential future development of multicultural education in South Korea.