- Title: SOUTH KOREA: North and South Koreans share Lunar New Year celebrations
- Date: 18th February 2007
- Summary: NORTH KOREAN DEFECTORS CLAPPING WITH SOUTH KOREAN NEIGHBOURS
- Embargoed: 5th March 2007 12:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz,Religion
- Reuters ID: LVABBU6V5O72CUBTT58WEJOSZKW6
- Story Text: Being alone without family or friends during the holiday season is lonely and depressing.
And it is no different for North Korean defectors living in South Korea who are thinking about their families and their hometowns during the Lunar New Year holiday.
In Seoul, a group of South Koreans organized an event for North Koreans living in the country to share their way of celebrating the festive season with their South Korean neighbours.
About 200 North Korean defectors were invited to the event, many of who don't have many places to visit during the holidays and have problems with re-settlement in a new society.
"The Lunar New Year holiday in North Korea was about having fun with neighbours, sharing food together. But since I defected to South Korea, I don't even know who lives in the neighbourhood. It makes my head hurt," said 26-year-old North Korean defector Han Joung-suck.
North and South Koreans enjoyed performances by Pyongyang National Arts and played various traditional folk games and activities such as "yut" and spinning tops.
"I've been thinking of my hometown a lot lately as Lunar New Year holidays approach, but I feel good now because I can forget the pain in my heart temporarily by joining this event," said 54-year-old North Korean defector Kim Yong-hwa.
A recent report states the number of defectors having troubles due to their failure to settle into South Korean society is increasing.
The issue of their assimilation has become such a big issue, social communities are starting to support them by making effort to familiarise them with the culture as well as the realities of life in the South.
"There are many North Korean defectors living around here. They usually spend a lonely Lunar New Year holiday so we planned to make this event for them to have a warm holiday season," said Kim Ja-won, director of Songpa Welfare Community Centre.
The total number of North Korean defectors to South Korea surpassed 10,000 last month.
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