Yoon promises incentives for companies hiring NK defectors

President Yoon Suk Yeol (center, front row) poses for a photo with participants in the ceremony to commemorate North Korean Defectors' Day designated on July 14, at Cheong Wa Dae, Sunday. (Pool photo via Yonhap)

President Yoon Suk Yeol pledged Sunday to provide financial incentives to South Korean companies hiring North Korean defectors, as the conservative leader commemorated North Korean Defectors' Day designated for the first time.

In its inaugural ceremony in Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul, formerly used as the presidential office, Yoon promised to tackle the problem of unemployment among North Korean defectors who often struggle to land a proper job here.

Tax credits or government subsidies could be provided to private-sector companies hiring North Korean defectors, according to the presidential office in Seoul. No further details about the plan were provided.

Also, Seoul will encourage the government and public-sector companies to hire more refugees from North Korea. South Korea is currently home to some 34,000 North Korean defectors.

"More and more North Korean defectors establish successful career paths, but in general, the employment situation for North Korean defectors remains terrible," Yoon told some 200 participants in the ceremony. "A stable job is the primary means of helping North Korean defectors reach their full potential."

Yoon also vowed to increase the state's cash allowance for every North Korean defector who arrives in South Korea, which currently amounts to 10 million won ($7,260).

Such one-time allowances amounted to 30 million won upon the introduction of a law to support North Korean defectors in 1997, but it gradually decreased to 6 million won by 2007. After implementing its first hike in 2013 to 7 million won, and another one to 8 million won in 2019, the Yoon administration implemented hikes twice in 2023 and 2024.

Child care services for female North Korean defectors, who account for 72 percent of defectors, will also be expanded, according to Yoon.

Yoon also vowed to spare no efforts to prevent North Korean defectors at home and abroad from being repatriated to North Korea in his speech.

Yoon's remarks came months after he in January proposed to observe the North Korean Defectors' Day. The day was designated to mark the implementation of the North Korean Defectors Protection And Settlement Support Act on July 14, 1997. The relevant law was announced in May.