• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.64 no.4
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• pp.89-111
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• 2012

Since the U.S. government officially accepted North Korean(NK) as refugees starting in 2006, about 120 North Koreans have come to and been living in the United States. However, little is known in regard to what the North Korean refugees need for a qualify life. This study aims to explore the essential experiences of North Korean defectors who have settled in the United States after escaping North Korea. Research inquiries are why North Korean refugees have chosen the United States for their settlement, and how they are living in the United States. Data were collected from in-depth interviews with eight NK refugees. For data analysis, grounded theory approach by Strauss and Corbin(1998) was employed. The data analysis identified the central phenomenon, protective and risk factors, and core actions and consequences of NK refugees' adjustment in the U.S. The central phenomenon was "voluntary choose to come to the U.S." The core action and consequences in the process of their adjustment were 'searching for the meaning of life,' and 'achieving acculturation.' The findings may provide deeper understanding on the situation of North Korean refugees in the U.S. and implications for how to help them adjust well in the society.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.291-294
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• 2018

Soil-transmitted helminthiases (STH) are now no longer public health problems in the Republic of Korea (South Korea), but their status are unavailable in the residents of North Korea (NK) despite the expectation of large scale traffic and future reunification of the Korean Peninsula. A total of 20 female refugees from NK who had been admitted to the Division of Gastroenterology, Dankook University Hospital, were subjected in this study. Among them, 15 refugees were examined by the colonoscopy and 10 ones were examined with the stool examination (formalin-ether sedimentation). Both diagnostic methods were commonly adopted in 5 patients. Eggs of Trichuris trichiura were detected in 7 out of 10 refugees in the stool examination. In the colonoscopy, T. trichiura worms were found in 6 (40.0%) out of 15 refugees. Total 9 (45.0%) peoples were confirmed to be infected with human whipworms. Additionally, 1 case of clonorchiasis was diagnosed in the stool examination and a worm of Ascaris lumbricoides was discovered from a trichuriasis case. These findings suggested that STH is highly prevalent in NO, in which living conditions are not so good in the aspect of general hygiene and medical care.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.147-158
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• 2014

The purpose of this study is to investigate the preference and present use condition of convenience foods for North Korean refugees in South Korea. Questionnaires were completed by 211 North Korean refugees and data was analyzed with SPSS software. The preference for convenience foods of half of the questionnaires was investigated as 'moderate'. More than half of the North Korean refugees enjoy eating the convenience foods. They enjoy them as a snack. The reason to eat convenience foods is due to the convenience(n=122, 57.8%), and taste(n=42, 10.0%). North Korean refugees under the age of 29 years think the fastfood is good due to the convenience and taste. The longer the period of residence in South Korea, the less they enjoy convenience foods. The reason to choose the convenience foods is 'good for health', 'convenient', 'exotic', and 'economical'. The results suggest that it is necessary to educate people to buy reasonably by understanding the relationship between the convenience foods and health.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.287-297
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• 2018

Purpose: This study aimed to identify variables influencing the psychosocial adjustment of North Korean adolescent refugees in order to establish a structural equation model and design an intervention strategy to improve psychosocial adjustment. Methods: The subjects included 290 North Korean adolescent refugees aged 16~24 years who were enrolled in alternative schools or regional adaptation centers. They were surveyed using a structured questionnaire. Results: The goodness of fit measures of the model were as follows: $x^2=131.20$ (p<.001), GFI=.93, CFI=.91, TLI=.86, RMSEA=.08, and SRMR=.07. The results estimated from the structural equation model indicated a good fit of data to the hypothesized model, which proposed that stress and emotional intelligence are associated with psychosocial adjustment. The major variables influencing psychosocial adjustment were stress, emotional intelligence, which was a significant direct effect, whereas attitude of parenting showed an indirect effect on psychosocial adjustment through emotional intelligence. These variables account for 50.0% of psychosocial adjustment. Conclusion: It is necessary to develop a program and intervention plan that can enhance emotional intelligence and thereby relieve the stress of North Korean adolescent refugees. The program should also include parenting education so that parents have positive attitude of parenting.

• 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.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.201-212
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• 2013

This study divides and traces experience courses of families' disorganization and reorganization of North Korean refugees in North Korea, China, and South Korea after settlement respectively, from the course of their escaping North Korea to entering South Korea. Through these results, the study is to propose political implications. Main data for the study were analyzed through a case study as a qualitative study method, targeting eight people from July in 2012 to March in 2013. From the study result, though North Korean refugees seemed to disorganize and leave family relations in the course of escaping North Korea, it was found out that this is not disorganization but a preparatory stage which saves families standing at the crossroads of life and death and makes a chance to live with them someday. In these courses, in order for them to overcome their situations and survive, while repeating disorganization and reorganization of families, they used them as a way of saving themselves and their families. It was discovered that these phenomena always occurred simultaneously.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.11 no.8
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• pp.2840-2852
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• 2010

The number of North Korean refugees entering South Korea since the mid 1990s has increased continuously and recently the number has reached 2 million people, which is expected to continue to rise. In the meantime, the government of South Korea has been developing various means to help the North Korean refugees take part in our society and to increase their self-reliance. In this study, improvements were made to systems where North Korean national qualifications are made eligible for use in South Korea, to help them better adapt to our society. The research conducted a Delphi survey of 70 professional qualified workers, training specialists, qualified professionals, researchers and government agents, and 6 interviews were carried out to North Korean refugees and qualified judges. The results complement the current system, in terms of eligibility qualification procedures, where the department's role in its qualification procedure is enhanced and practical experiences are added to the procedure.

• 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.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.632-643
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to determine the factors affecting the multicultural efficacy towards North Korean Refugees of Nursing Students. Data were collected 283 undergraduate students from July 2017 to December 2017. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation and multiple regression. The findings showed that study grade(p=.033), liberal arts in formal multicultural education experience(p=.009), membership of national identity(p=.001), and cognition(p=.049), consciousness (p=.008), behavior(p=.001) of cultural awareness were significant factors affecting multicultural efficacy towards North Korean Refugees of Nursing Students. The results of this study indicate that multicultural education and educational system related to North Korean Refugees should be establish in the curriculum to enhance the efficacy of nursing. This research is expected to provide a foundation for nursing students to perform their roles as competent cultural agents in society after graduation.