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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mr. Palau who wrote (682411)	5/16/2005 1:19:46 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

N. Korean Defectors Seeking Jobs in South By JI-SOO KIM Associated Press Writer SEOUL, South Korea -- Shin Mi-yeon left behind her husband in her native North Korea, braving treacherous borders in the long journey to arrive last year in her new home. Now, she's embarking on a new quest: finding a full-time job in South Korea. Shin was among some 130 North Korean defectors who gathered Tuesday at a job fair organized by the Seoul city government, seeking to help the new arrivals in their transition from life in the communist North to the capitalist South. The number of North Korean defectors arriving here has boomed in recent years. Last year, 1,894 came to the South, a nearly 50 percent jump from the year before. But new defectors often complain of problems after they arrive in the South, where their previous job qualifications and experience often aren't recognized and they can face discrimination as soon as they open their mouths and speak with a North Korean accent. Along with advice on writing resumes and job interviews, job placement workers at Tuesday's fair led exercises in striking "confidence" poses -- thrusting their fists in the air and looking to the skies. "My dreams will come true!" Shin shouted and giggled, following the motions along with others. But making dreams come true isn't always easy, acknowledged Lee Jung-ju, head of the job placement agency Recruit. Lee told the group that many North Koreans don't last longer than a year in any job. "If you've stayed three years on a job, that's a long time," she said. Shin, 34, arrived in Seoul last July via China. Living in a rental apartment provided by the government, she works part-time as a waitress earning $3.50 an hour. But she hopes to get a full-time job to support herself and her 7-year-old son. "I envy those who go to work every day," she said. Her husband refused to defect because of his family in the North. There, she worked in a sewing factory, but said the job hurt her eyes and that she didn't want a similar one here. "Life in North Korea is very hard. There are some people who can afford to have three meals a day, but there are those who can't," she said. Although she said she dreamed of an office job, Shin hadn't even heard of the vocations proposed for women like herself in a government pamphlet handed out at the fair: music therapist, hospice care, sports trainer, running an Internet store and an aroma therapist. Sitting nearby was another job hopeful, 47-year-old Kim Seung-nam, who was among 462 North Korean defectors who arrived in a mass defection last July that the North's government has criticized as a "kidnapping." After graduating from the government's education center for new defectors in January, he's been searching for his dream job as a driver. In the North, Kim was in charge of horses at an herb farm, and did extra chores to help support his ex-wife, two daughters and a son. Only his son came with him to the South, but he hopes he can make enough here to support his family back home. But after the fair -- success exercises and all -- he said he didn't feel overflowing with any newfound confidence. "To tell you the truth, I am now more worried whether I can get a job," Kim said.