Abstract
The purpose of this study is to investigate the influencing factors of parental child abuse by North Korean refugees who are living in South Korea. In-depth interviews were conducted with five parents who escaped from North Korea. The study identified three categories of factors impacting child abuse: the weakening of family functions from past experiences before and after defection, the stress of adapting to the culture of an unfamiliar society, and low parenting self-efficacy. North Korean parents suffered from emotional and functional crises from past traumatic events and, at the same time, experienced additional acculturative stress as a “minority” after entering South Korea, even as they continued to deal with Maternal Parenting Stress. These complex factors have been shown to lead to child abuse in migrant societies. This study contemplated the context of child abuse through specific examples. The results could provide thoughtful insights into child abuse among migrants and refugee parents, and provide evidence-based intervention plans for its prevention.
Highlights
North Korea’s communist regime has been committing human rights violations throughout its three-generation-long reign of terror
North Korean parents who experienced traumatic events in the past have suffered from severe after-effects such as depression and PTSD, which were identified as having a direct impact on parenting style
This study determined that stress arising from the adaptation of NK refugee parents has a great effect on child abuse
Summary
North Korea’s communist regime has been committing human rights violations throughout its three-generation-long reign of terror. Koreans are in various kinds of anti-human-rights situations, enduring violence, torture, hunger, and social control. For this reason, many try to escape every year. South Korean society refers to those who have escaped from North Korea as ‘North Korean refugees’ (‘NK refugees’). As the number of NK refugees has increased over the past two decades, a new type of family, termed a “North Korean family” (an ‘NK family’) has been created in South Korea. It is easy to erroneously believe that all members of North Korean refugee families are from
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