N.K. defectors illegally re-lease subsidized public rental homes

Kim, a 27-year-old woman who defected from North Korea leaving her family behind in Jakang Province in the North four years ago, was full of dreams until early 2013, when she left Hanawon in South Korea. After taking education meant help North Korean defectors adapt to South Korean life at Hanawon, she was also granted a public rental home and settlement subsidies. She also could regain her dream of entering college, something that she was not allowed in the North due to her political class despite her good academic performance.

However, "the reality in the South" faced by Kim was tougher than she anticipated. It was an immense challenge for her to repay the 10 million won (8,500 U.S. dollars) she was indebted to a broker, an ethnic Korean in China, when she defected from the North. Having entered South Korea through China, Cambodia and Myanmar, she was under constant pressure by the broker to repay the money, even before settling down in the South.

Since the interest alone amounted to 20 percent to 30 percent per year, it takes more than four years for her to repay the debt as she also had to spend her living expenses. Kim has been repaying the debt with 7 million won (5,980 dollars) including 4 million won (3,420 dollars), which she received when leaving Hanawon, and 3 million won (2,560 dollars) given by the government again in 2014, and the salary she earned by working as waitress, but she still has debt.

Early 2015 when she was about to enter college after spending two difficult years while working and studying, Kim resorted to illegal re-leasing of her public rental home. She was awarded government scholarships, but still could not afford to cover increased living expenses due to textbook costs and others. Hence, she proposed three of her North Korean friends to live together. The government is allotting one public rental home to each North Korean defector. Kim suggested her friends, saying, “Since the rental home is fairly large at 33 sq. meters to 66 sq. meters, let’s live together and lease the other three homes.” They received 500,000 won (427 dollars) per month for a two-bedroom apartment, and 200,000 won (171 dollars) to 300,000 won (256 dollars) for a one-bedroom apartment per month without taking any key deposit. The money they earned by re-leasing the three apartments amounted to 1.5 million won (1,280 dollars), and they divided the sum and paid their respective portions to cover the living expenses.

However, they soon came to learn it is illegal for a tenant of a public rental apartment to re-lease the rental home to another tenant. If caught through random household visits by authorities such as Korea Land & Housing Corp., the violator could face up to two years in prison or up to 20 million won (17,100 dollars) in fine. Illegal re-leasing of public rental homes is being widely committed by North Korean defectors such as Kim in Yangcheon, Gangseo, and Nowon wards in Seoul, and Ansan City in Gyeonggi Province.

Experts say that the government needs to be more flexible in providing support to North Korean defectors. “As most North Korean defectors hang around without jobs, they get easily seduced into illegal re-leasing,” said Ahn Chan-in, director of the Global North Korean Research Institute. “If they are cracked down on only based on laws, it ends up with making them criminals, which is counterproductive. The government needs a practical alternative that would help North Korean defectors settle down in South Korea more easily.”

“I re-leased the home because I wanted to realize my dream of going to college and because I was lonely to live alone. Do I have to live as a criminal in South Korea now?”

Kim is spending day after day amid worries about being caught for her illegal re-leasing of her public rental home these days.

전주영기자 aimhigh@donga.com