View Article

Volume 2, Issue 1 November 2021, pp. 4–16

Regular Articles
Collaborative witnessing: A North Korean’s immigration experience in South Korea

Amy Hutchinson ¹

¹ College of Southern Nevada, USA

DOI: https://doi.org/10.29140/mle.v2n1.482

Abstract

Collaborative witnessing is a form of “relational autoethnography” that allows interviews to be more informal and resembles a conversation rather than a structured question and answer format. Collaborative witnessing is the methodology utilized in this article, which is about the personal history of one North Korean defector, JeongOk Lee, who escaped to China twice and came to South Korea in 2004. Media and society refer to them as “North Korean defectors.” In this article, JeongOk shares her experience living in foreign countries through the stories and through three years of interviews. JeongOk provides stories and experiences in North Korea and South Korea. The conversations will reveal the hardships JeongOk experienced working in both North and South Korea. JeongOk experienced difficulties in language and work culture. Her experience resembles what many immigrants face when moving to a new country. These North Korean defectors, or refugees, should be viewed as immigrants through a multicultural lens rather than to focus on the controversial or political issues that arise when discussing North Korean refugees. North Korean refugees struggle to acclimate to South Korea’s culture, language, politics, lifestyle, and capitalist society. As a result, North Korea defectors feel alienated and isolated in South Korean society which makes it more difficult to build relationships. Viewing North Korean people through a multicultural lens could help promote better integration in South Korean society. For South Koreans to be more accepting and understanding of North Korean refugees, they must understand the hardships that North Korean refugees face.

Copyright

Suggested citation

Hutchinson, A. (2021). Collaborative witnessing: A North Korean’s immigration experience in South Korea. Migration and Language Education, 2(1), 4–16. https://doi.org/10.29140/mle.v2n1.482

Related Articles:

Intercultural communicative competence and mobility: Perspectives on virtual, physical, and critical dimensions
Beatrice Dupuy, Chantelle Warner
Intercultural Communication Education Published: 19 April, 2021, Volume 4(1), 1–5.

Should Standard Arabic have “the lion’s share?”: Teacher ideologies in L2 Arabic through the lens of pedagogical translanguaging
Mahmoud Azaz, Yousra Abourehab
Intercultural Communication Education Published: 19 April, 2021, Volume 4(1), 90–105.

Shaping the teaching and learning of intercultural communication through virtual mobility
Theresa Catalano, Andrea Muñoz Barriga
Intercultural Communication Education Published: 19 April, 2021, Volume 4(1), 75–89.

Multiracial Chinese American women studying abroad in China: The intersectionality of gender, race, and language learning
Wenhao Diao, Yi Wang
Intercultural Communication Education Published: 19 April, 2021, Volume 4(1), 39–55.

Roadblocks to intercultural mobility: Indigenous students’ journeys in Colombian universities
José Aldemar Álvarez Valencia, Manuela Wagner
Intercultural Communication Education Published: 19 April, 2021, Volume 4(1), 6–21.

Intercultural education in times of restricted travel: Lessons from the Gaza Strip
Maria Grazia Imperiale
Intercultural Communication Education Published: 19 April, 2021, Volume 4(1), 22–38.

At the crossroads: Rethinking study abroad students’ social networking and intercultural communication in the age of globalization
Irwin Compiegne
Intercultural Communication Education Published: 19 April, 2021, Volume 4(1), 56–74.

Reframing and hospicing mobility in higher education: Challenges and possibilities
Adriana Raquel Diaz, Marisa Cordella, Samantha Dispray, Barbara E. Hanna, Anna Mikhaylova
Intercultural Communication Education Published: 19 April, 2021, Volume 4(1), 106–121.

Enrolled or engaged? Students’ perceptions of engagement and oral interaction in a blended learning language course
Kirsi Korkealehto, Minna Lakkala, Auli Toom
The JALT CALL Journal Published: 27 April, 2021, Volume 17(1), 1–22.

The impact of implementing augmented reality to enhance the vocabulary of young EFL learners
Kholoud Binhomran, Sultan Altalhab
The JALT CALL Journal Published: 27 April, 2021, Volume 17(1), 23–44.