A dance event held in Seoul, South Korea during the week of the inaugural North Korean Defectors' Day.SEOUL: Twenty-four-year old Lee Wi Seong lived the first half his life in North Korea, and has been spending the latter half in South Korea.When he first arrived, everything was alien to him, from using a mobile phone to taking public transport. His struggle to adapt remains fresh in his mind till this day.
The 17-year-old, her parents, sister and grandmother escaped North Korea in 2018, managing to leave before borders with China were shut due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Out of more than 34,000 North Korean defectors who are known to have entered the South since the Korean peninsula was divided more than seven decades ago, about 6,400 – including Jin Hae – live in the high-tech capital of Seoul.
When defectors first arrive in South Korea, they have to go to a “re-education centre” called Hanawon for three months. It helps them adjust to life in South Korea.