Tongtong Interview | Yoon Young-Hoon, Attorney at Law

 "For North Korean defectorsI need one-stop legal support"

Younghoon Yoon, Attorney at Law

Q. How did you first start providing legal assistance to North Korean defectors?

A. My previous law firm, Shin & Kim, was affiliated with Hanbit Comprehensive Social Welfare Center, which runs the Hana Center in southern Seoul. The company offered to provide legal assistance to North Korean defectors as a social contribution, so I applied and started as soon as I joined. I've been providing legal counseling to North Korean defectors for about five years now.

Q. What is the main form of legal assistance to North Korean defectors?

A. The company's main support was to regularly provide basic legal education to North Korean refugees who have completed their one-year education and are starting to settle in South Korean society. Since I personally connected with the welfare center, I have been giving free legal consultations and lectures in addition to the company's activities, and helping them with areas that are difficult for them to litigate on their own. Now, I have more freedom to utilize my work time than when I was working at a large law firm. When I teach at the welfare center, I don't disclose my personal contact information, but people who need help can apply for a consultation through the welfare center, and I will review it and contact them directly.

Q.Do you provide direct assistance in cases that go beyond consultation to actual litigation?

A. We try to help people who need help as much as we can, but we realize that sometimes helping people for free is not helpful to some people, because they're like, "Well, if it's free, it must be crap. So, if we have a legal consultation and it's going to lead to a lawsuit, I first tell them about the Legal Aid Korea, which has lawyers employed by the government, so ordinary people who can't afford to pay to prepare a lawsuit can get help through this organization. So, first of all, I refer them to this organization, but because it's not just for North Korean defectors, there is often a backlog of cases. So, there are people who contact me again, and I try to do some things, but I don't appear in court because I have to go through a complicated declaration process to represent them for free, but I mainly write a letter. In general, there aren't many cases that are very complicated or require multiple rounds of litigation, so if you get the direction right at the beginning, there's not much of a problem. If you go to court pro se, you have to pay more attention. I personally wish I could help you more, but I'm sorry.

Q. What kind of issues do defectors come to you with?

A. When I crossed the border, it was a lot about organizing my relationship with my husband and the kids I left behind in China. The next most common question is about the broker fee, and the court used to allow up to 5 million won, which is actually illegal, but without it, they can't come into South Korea, so the broker fee is not set, so there are complaints from North Koreans that they are asking for too much.

Also, women make up the majority of North Korean defectors, and they often talk about being sexually harassed by brokers or people connected to them during the defection process. I would like to address this, but most of the time I don't know the names of the perpetrators and it's hard to get evidence, so I can't really help them. I'm sorry that I can only be a listening ear when it comes to issues that are difficult to solve legally. Other than that, there are many problems that ordinary people living in Korean society face, so there's not much difference, just a little more difficulty adjusting to South Korean society, such as being a victim of voice phishing, or receiving repeated calls from the headquarters saying that they haven't received money from the headquarters even though they bought and paid for goods through door-to-door sales.

Q. Is there a community of lawyers who help defectors?

A. There is a group called 'North Korean Refugee Legal Assistance Lawyers' in the Korean Bar Association, and a new group was launched in September this year, and one group has been active for two years. I started working with the group in 2012, and I met many people who have been involved in North Korean defectors' legal aid activities before.

I understand that there are about 300 members of the North Korean Refugee Legal Assistance Lawyers' Association nationwide. If there is a limitation, it is that it is difficult to connect with North Korean defectors. We need a medium that can connect those who want to help and those who need help. We're constantly thinking about how we can reach more people and really help them.

Q.Do you have any memorable impressions or stories from meeting defectors in person?

A. I've met mostly people who have just defected, and I once met someone who was just over twenty years old and had a child on her shoulders, and I was worried about her, so I asked her how she was going to be, and she was very strong and told me her plans for the future, and I thought it was reassuring and admirable that she didn't just say it, but that she had a lot of determination and strength.

And there are a lot of unfortunate situations where we can't help you anymore because we don't have enough evidence, and when we explain that to you, you usually comply rather than complain. In the end, I've found that many people appreciate the fact that you're trying to help, even if the answer is that you can't solve the problem.

Also, the mother of a friend I met in the Mentor-Mentee Program passed away, and he and his mother had moved to South Korea, so they didn't have a place to live. At that time, many welfare workers and North Korean defectors came to help us. I was also impressed by how the community of North Korean refugees in South Korea is well organized.

Q. 'Mentor-Mentee Program-'''?

A. Sejong Law Firm also runs a 'Mentor-Mentee Program' apart from legal aid. It's a one-on-one matching between North Korean students and lawyers, so they meet once or twice a month and spend time together, and the firm provides scholarships to the students. I know this program is still going on. I was able to get along with my mentees more easily because of the small age difference, and we still get along well as 'big brother' and 'little brother'. When we meet up, we go bowling and eat delicious food."

The current mentees are university students who have adapted well to the South Korean society. However, when I actually visited Yeomyung School and listened to the stories around me, I realized that there are many friends who are still struggling to adapt even though it has been a long time since they defected. It's important to continue to encourage those who are doing well, but I think it's even more important to give strength to the many students who have not yet adjusted and are feeling doubtful about life here. I hope that the mentor-mentee program will help more North Korean students.

Q. What do you think needs to be improved in the current legal aid system for North Korean defectors?

A. If you look at the work of the North Korean defector legal aid lawyers, the biggest problem is the budget. I think we need to overhaul the system so that when North Koreans come to us with problems, they can be solved in a 'one-stop shop.' If the government is responsible for supporting lawyers who want legal aid, even if it's just the public defender's fee, I think more people will benefit from it. And in my case, I'm connected to the Southern Hana Center, but I don't know who is working in the Hana Center in other regions. I wish this could be systematized and revealed. The bottom line is that we need an intermediary organization to take on the role of an intermediary. I think the legal aid system would be more efficient if there was an intermediary organization that could identify which lawyers are working in which areas or what they want to do and connect them with the people who need help.

 Sihyun Sung / Staff Writer