• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• no.39
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• pp.29-56
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• 2008

The purpose of this study was to find out correlation and predictors of posttraumatic growth of North Korean refugees in South Korea in 7years. This survey was conducted on 105 North Korean refugees in 7 years with questions on depression, anxiety, socio-demographic characteristics, personal & social variables, psychological trauma in North Korea, stress experience in South Korea. The influence of these variables was analysed. Result indicated that education in North Korea and living period in the 3rd country iwas associated with PTG. Date for escaping from North Korea, depression, acculturative stress in South Korea, hope for future, social support from South Korean, perceived satisfaction had correlation with PTG. And Date for escaping from North Korea, living period in the 3rd country, social support from South Korean, acculturative stress in South Korea predicted PTG of North Korean refugees. Finally, social political intervention and mental health service programs for North Korean refugees were discussed.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.485-498
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• 2019

This study examined the mediating effect of internal locus of control in the relationship between family and friend support and acculturative stress of North Korean adolescent refugees. Participants consisted of 101 North Korean adolescent refugees (40 males and 61 females) aged 13 to 24, who live in Seoul, Gyeonggi Province, and Busan. SPSS 25.0 and Mplus 5.12 were used to analyze data. Descriptive statistics and Pearson's correlation coefficients were calculated and structural equation modeling (SEM) examined the mediating effect. The results of this study are as follows. First, a higher level of family support and friend support were associated with a higher level of internal locus of control. A higher level of internal locus of control was associated with a lower level of acculturative stress among North Korean adolescent refugees. Second, the level of internal locus of control mediated the relationship between friend support and acculturative stress. This study is meaningful in that it examines the specific paths affecting acculturative stress of North Korean adolescent by examining family and friend support, which are environmental factors, and internal locus of control, which is internal factor of individuals. The study results suggest that improving friend support as well as increasing the level of internal locus of control for North Korean adolescent refugees can be an effective way to prevent or intervene acculturative stress.

• Psychiatry investigation
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• v.15 no.11
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• pp.1019-1029
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• 2018

Objective We investigated how mental health awareness among North Korean refugees transformed depending on temporal-spatial context changes. Methods In 2013, we conducted interviews with 10 refugees (eight women) who had been in South Korea for over a year and performed a qualitative analysis of the change in mental health awareness in the differences between living in North Korea, escape (a related period of forced sojourn in a third country), and settlement in South Korea. Results We classified 39 concepts into five main categories. The first two categories (while living in North Korea) were "a mindset for the system, but not for individual mental health" and "being confined in a social environment that was indifferent to mental health." A third category appeared during escape: "focusing on survival amid continuity of intense suffering." The final two categories appeared when settling in South Korea: "recognition of mental health amid cultural shock" and "introspection and sorting oneself out." Conclusion This qualitative study enabled a better multi-dimensional understanding of the social and cultural aspects involved in improving mental health awareness among North Korean refugees in South Korea. It is desirable to integrate mental health as a part of daily life and to expand training for North Korean settlers.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.81-106
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to find out correlation and predictors of recovery predictive factors for North Korean refugees experienced torture in South Korea. This survey was conducted on 205 North Korean refugees with questions on socio-demographic variables, mental health & personality variables, and social & economical variables. The influence of these variables was analysed. Result indicated that sex, age, disease, child living in the North, marriage experience in the North and the China were associated with post-traumatic stress of torture. Also, depression, rumination, self-efficacy, resilience, secure-attachment, social support from the South, economic difficulties predicted the recovery for North Korean refugees with torture experience. Finally, clinical intervention with healing relationship and human rights for North Korean refugees were discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Society for information Management
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.351-374
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• 2022

The purposes of this study include i) to understand the circumstances of exposure to information during foreign refugees' stay in South Korea, ii) to investigate their information needs and the use of information sources, and iii) to propose the change needed in the Korean society, the role of South Korea in the global community, and the service direction of libraries and information professionals. To this end, legally recognized refugees who have stayed in South Korea were recruited for semi-structured in-depth interviews and observations on their perception, situation, and active behavior. The discussions were transcribed for coding. The codes were analyzed by content analysis technics based on relevant previous studies and factors of Dervin's Sense-making theory and Chatman's Information Poverty theory. Based on these analyses, this study proposed strategies for foreign refugees and individuals and public organizations, including libraries and NGOs, from an information service perspective. It is expected that the proposed strategies will supplement related empirical quantitative research and add value to information services for solving information problems.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.37
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• pp.271-306
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• 1999

This study aimed to present a comprehensive case management model which might be helpful for social workers in community social welfare agencies who works with North Korean refugees for their psychosocial adjustment in South Korea. After being constructed, the model was put into practice upon North Korean refugees. This article described the whole process of model construction and its application. Detail steps taken in this research include: (a) The researcher had 20 unstructured individual interviews with 11 North Korean refugees in order to identify psychosocial problems that need social workers' intervention; (b) Based upon the problems identified through interviews and previous literature review, program components were identified and sorted out into two phases, one of which is therapeutic phase, the other is case management phase; (c) By interlocking the two phases, the researcher proposed a comprehensive case management model whereby North Korean refugees can get psychosocial services as well as linkage services in an interactive fashion; (d) The utility of the proposed model was examined by using a couple of North Korean refugees who initially showed complicated psycho-social-economic problems. The therapeutic phase employed a cognitive-behavioral approach. The case management phase consists of: assessment and diagnosis; service planning and resource identification; linking of clients to needed services; monitoring of service delivery; and evaluation. Although the program could not go through with because of the limited contacts with North Korean refugees for security reasons, the program was turned out to be very useful in helping North Korean refugees' settling-down in South Korea. Implications for the application of the proposed model was discussed along with limitations of this study.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.18 no.7
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• pp.470-483
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• 2018

This study was conducted to analyze the trend of quantitative research regarding female North Korean refugees in order to broaden our understanding of North Korean women and provide directions for future research. In August 2017, the Korean studies Information Service System (KISS) and Nuri Media (DBpia) databases were used to search academic peer reviewed journal articles with the following keywords: "North Korean female", "North Korean female refugees" and "North Korean female defectors". Trend analysis included a content analysis of the study finding section, along with analysis of the general characteristics of the study such as published journals, year of publication, study methodologies, and subject of the study. The main findings are as follows: First, Korean Journal of Woman Psychology was the journal with the most studies on female North Korean refugees. Second, as a result of looking at research trends by year, there was only one study on North Korean female refugees published between 2000 and 2004, and the number started to increase in 2010(8 articles, 22.22%). Third, according to the analysis of research trends by research methods, survey method was most frequently used. Fourth, statistical analysis was most often utilized analysis methodology(34 studies, 94.44%). Fifth, in the content analysis, North Korean female refugees' mental health and emotional issues(17 studies, 47.22%) were the most often the focus of studies being analyzed, followed by social adjustment issues((5 studies, 13.89%). Based on these results, directions for future studies were suggested.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.147-163
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• 2004

The present research investigated and compared stress coping strategies of North Korean refugees with those of South Koreans in the purpose to predict and prepare psychological conflicts expected to occur during the Korean reunification. Adapted from Han, Hur, Chae, and Kim(2001), North Korean refugees recorded their coping strategies that they would employ in stressful situations varying in term of three aspects of stress causes - 2(locus: internal/external) × 2(stability: temporal/enduring) × 2(context: individual/interpersonal) - and the responses were classified in terms of three dimensions(active/passive, approach/avoidance, cognitive/affective/behavioral). In the temporal stress situations, adaptive North Korean refugees preferred active over passive, approaching over avoiding, and behavioral over cognitive/affective stress coping strategies more than maladaptive North Korean refugees did. Also, in the stressful situations caused by external causes, they were more likely to take active rather than passive, approaching rather than avoiding copying. Although active copying strategies were preferred to passive ones by adaptive North Korean refugees in individual stressful situations, approaching copying strategies were preferred to avoiding ones by them in interpersonal stressful situations. These findings were found to be different from the pattern of South Korean's stress coping strategies in the same situations. In conclusion, the differences were discussed in the view of psychological integration during Korean reunification.

• Journal of Korean Library and Information Science Society
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.325-356
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• 2006

This study deals with information poverty and information service for information welfare of North Korean refugees. On the basis of the data collected and analyzed, it was concluded that North Korean refugees were situated at information poverty, as compared to the situation of South Koreans. It was also found out that their information poverty was caused by the inferiority of their information literary and information environment. In conclusion, this study made some suggestions for overcoming the information poverty and promoting the information welfare of North Korean refugees.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.67-75
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• 2016

The financial difficulties which North Korean refugees encounter during the process of transition into South Korean society is due to their low income and insufficient expertise. Hence this research was conducted for the purpose of improving the policy and system to support North Korean refugees' starting of businesses. As a result, the self-efficacy, which is one of the individual characteristics, influences the motivation for starting business. In addition, it has been revealed that the motives and education on starting business also influence the motivation for starting business. By observing regulation effect of social adaptation, it has been found out that the interaction between the personal characteristics such as risk-taking attribute and the previous experience of starting business, along with interaction effect on social adaptation and motives and social adaptation, is statically influencing as well. On the basis of results, to efficiently support North Korean refugees' starting business, it is necessary to conduct education on starting business to boost their self-efficacy and the support must be executed based on their levels of motives, risk-taking attribute and social adaptation.