Yongin City Hosts Joint Lunar New Year Commemoration Ceremony for North Korean Defectors
The event, held to help North Korean defectors—who carry the pain of longing for their homeland and a sense of relative isolation—experience themselves as happy citizens of Yongin, was first launched in 2011 as a joint ceremony during Chuseok. Following another joint ceremony last year during Chuseok, this marks the sixth edition of the event, establishing it as a fixture of Yongin City's harmony festival for North Korean defectors.
The event proceeded with Part 1 featuring a joint ceremony and Part 2 featuring a harmony festival and prize drawings, attracting approximately 100 North Korean defectors residing in Yongin City.
The Yongin City Saemaul Women's Association arranged the ceremonial table, while representatives from the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation's Yongin City Branch and members of the Yongin City North Korean Defectors Local Council presented gifts including rice, daily necessities, and bicycles.
Kim Hak-gyu, Mayor of Yongin City, participated as a representative of the 960,000 residents of Yongin City in the joint ceremony, stating, "I hope that the ceremony respectfully offered by North Korean defectors will reach the skies of the North and become a cornerstone of peaceful reunification," and added, "We will continue to provide administrative support for the settlement of North Korean defectors in our region so they can serve as bridges between North and South Korea and contribute to the building of a unified nation."
Yongin City, currently home to approximately 530 North Korean defectors, has actively supported their integration by hiring four defectors as civil servants and recognizing model businesses that hire North Korean defectors. The Yongin City North Korean Defectors Support Local Council is also making efforts through various support initiatives, including joint holiday ceremonies and scholarship programs for students from North Korean defector families.
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