14:30 〜 14:45
[057] The Effects of the Residential Environment on North Korean Defector's Adaptation to the Local Community
キーワード：North Korean defectors, Adaptation, Residential environment
The issue of social integration with refugees is a problem could be classified as a local community adaptation. Various factors, such as demographic, social, and personality aspects, have a significant impact on migrants’ cultural adaption. The residential environment can also affect cultural adaptation in that it has an important influence on individual lives. However, research on how the residential environment at the origin and settlement influences cultural adaptation is insufficient. The process of North Korean defectors adapting to South Korean society can also be understood as acculturation like other migrants. And the differences experienced in the residential community frustrate them from becoming complete members of South Korean society. With this backdrop, the purpose of this study is to investigate how the residential environment in North and South Korea affects the adaptation of North Korean defectors to the local community in South Korea. We examined which residential environmental factors matter for their adaptation and how differences between the residential environments in the two Koreas affect their adaptation processes.
We interviewed four North Korean defectors with a semi-structured questionnaire to collect data. And we analyzed it with open coding method. According to our study, North Korean defectors’ acculturation strategies and their adaptation aspects are not matched. And all participants say that differences in the residential environment do not affect their adaptation. Also, their adaptation strategies depend on their social life in South Korea rather than on their neighborhood relations in North Korea. Even if all participants live in an area with a high concentration of North Korean defectors, the adaptation aspects are different. Meanwhile, it is confirmed that the residential environment, including local facilities, mediates their activities and adaptation in South Korea.
We interviewed four North Korean defectors with a semi-structured questionnaire to collect data. And we analyzed it with open coding method. According to our study, North Korean defectors’ acculturation strategies and their adaptation aspects are not matched. And all participants say that differences in the residential environment do not affect their adaptation. Also, their adaptation strategies depend on their social life in South Korea rather than on their neighborhood relations in North Korea. Even if all participants live in an area with a high concentration of North Korean defectors, the adaptation aspects are different. Meanwhile, it is confirmed that the residential environment, including local facilities, mediates their activities and adaptation in South Korea.