{"id":6005,"date":"2026-07-14T15:35:58","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T10:35:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=6005"},"modified":"2026-07-14T15:35:58","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T10:35:58","slug":"lee-says-understanding-n-korean-born-citizens-special-asset-for-2-koreas-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=6005","title":{"rendered":"Lee says understanding N. Korean-born citizens &#8216;special asset&#8217; for 2 Koreas&#8217; future"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdnph.upi.com\/ph\/st\/th\/5371784023786\/2026\/i\/17840242496315\/v1.5\/Lee-says-understanding-N-Korean-born-citizens-special-asset-for-2-Koreas-future.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A display shows notes and wishes for Korean unification at an event marking the third annual North Korean Defectors&#8217; Day in Goyang on Tuesday. Photo by Yonhap<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p>President Lee Jae Myung said Tuesday the experience of understanding North Korean-born citizens in South Korea will become a &#8220;special asset&#8221; to prepare for a future shared by the two Koreas.<\/p>\n<p>Lee made the remarks in a written address delivered by Lim Woong-soon, the second deputy director of the National Security Office, in commemoration of the day for North Korean defectors, which falls on July 14.\n<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The experience of understanding and trusting one another in a new community will lay the foundation for social integration and serve as a valuable asset in preparing for a future in which South and North Korea live together,&#8221; Lee said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We will establish lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula and move steadily toward shared prosperity for the two Koreas,&#8221; the president said, adding that he will make all-out efforts to usher in a future of &#8220;coexistence and cooperation&#8221; beyond conflict and confrontation.<\/p>\n<p>During the speech, Lee consistently referred to North Korean defectors as &#8220;bukhyangmin,&#8221; or people whose hometown is North Korea, a new term adopted by the unification minister earlier this year. The ministry is using &#8220;North Korean-born citizens&#8221; to refer to the North&#8217;s defectors.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Unification Minister Chung Dong-young underscored at the event that it marked the first year to commemorate the third anniversary under the newly adopted reference, noting the term &#8220;North Korean defectors&#8221; implies discrimination and exclusion.\n<\/p>\n<p>Tuesday&#8217;s event in Goyang, northwest of Seoul, was attended by some 1,000 people, including North Korean-born citizens and those who helped them settle into South Korea.<\/p>\n<p><i>Copyright (c) Yonhap News Agency prohibits its content from being redistributed or reprinted without consent, and forbids the content from being learned and used by artificial intelligence systems.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A display shows notes and wishes for Korean unification at an event marking the third annual North Korean Defectors&#8217; Day in Goyang on Tuesday. Photo by Yonhap President Lee Jae Myung said Tuesday the experience of understanding North Korean-born citizens in South Korea will become a &#8220;special asset&#8221; to prepare for a future shared by&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6006,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdnph.upi.com\/sv\/ph\/og\/i\/5371784023786\/2026\/1\/17840242496315\/v1.5\/Lee-says-understanding-N-Korean-born-citizens-special-asset-for-2-Koreas-future.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}