Koreans in Germany
Encyclopedia
Koreans in Germany numbered 31,248 individuals , according to the statistics of South Korea
's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
. Though they are now only the 14th-largest Korean diaspora community worldwide, they remain the second-largest in Western Europe
, behind the rapidly-growing community of Koreans in the United Kingdom
.
had already been in West Germany
in the late 1950s. However, mass migration did not begin until the 1960s, when West Germany
invited nurses and miner
s from South Korea
to come as Gastarbeiter
; their recruitment of labourers specifically from South Korea was driven not just by economic necessity, but also by a desire to demonstrate support for a country that, like Germany, had been divided
by ideology. The first group of miners arrived on 16 December 1963, under a programme paid for largely by the South Korean government; German enterprises were not responsible for travel costs, but only for wages and language training. They had high levels of education compared with other Gastarbeiter of the same era; over 60% had completed high school or tertiary education. Nurses began arriving in large numbers in 1966. Koreans were one of the few non-European groups recruited; West German migration policy generally excluded workers of African and Asian origin during the 1950s through 1970s. After living in Germany, some Koreans migrated onwards to the United States
under the relaxed entrance standards of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. Though the South Korean workers came on limited-term contracts and most initially planned to return home, in the end, half of workers enlisted ended up remaining in Germany. Throughout the 1970s, they staged protests demanding the right to stay, citing their contributions to the economy and health care system; in the end, the West German government refrained from expelling those whose work contracts had expired, instead letting them move on to other work.
North
and South Korea vied for influence among the Korean community in West Germany during the 1960s and 1970s; North Korea sent operatives to West Germany disguised as professors in order to recruit among the Korean community there. In 1967, South Korea forcibly extradited
, without the consent of the West German government, a number of Koreans suspected of spying for the North, the most famous of whom was composer and German citizen Isang Yun
. They were tortured to extract false confessions, and six were sentenced to death. West Germany expelled three South Korean diplomats in the aftermath of the incident, and seriously considered breaking off diplomatic relations with South Korea. However, they decided against it as the South's attention shifted to the assassination attempt on Park Chung-hee and the USS Pueblo incident
, and instead worked quietly to ensure the release of those who had been kidnapped.
reconstruction period of North Korea
from 1953 to 1962, many North Korean students enrolled in universities and colleges in the Soviet bloc, and others came as industrial trainees. In 1955, their numbers in East Germany were estimated at 334 students, 302 industrial trainees, and 298 orphans. However, as the Sino-Soviet split
worsened, the North Korean government ordered nearly all of their overseas nationals to return home, and by 1962, few North Koreans were left in Germany. Even those who married locals obeyed the recall order and left their spouses behind; in one case, an East German woman was able to confirm that her North Korean husband was still alive after more than four decades without contact, but others have never seen or heard any information about their spouses since. In the 1980s, relations between North Korea and East Germany improved again, and about 1,500 North Korean students came to East Germany. Even after the German reunification
, the Pyongyang
government continued to send some students to Germany for technical training; the two countries established formal diplomatic relations in March 2001, and Germans working in North Korea have reported meeting German-speaking engineers and technicians. In 2009, North Korean scientists and engineers were denied renewal of their stay permits in Germany, even in cases where their scholarships were renewed. This was not reported in the press.
, bringing German spouses with them; this return migration has resulted in the creation of a "German Village" in South Gyeongsang's Namhae
County.
or higher educational qualification, more than twice the ratio for the rest of the population (see also: Academic achievement among different groups in Germany
). Outside of the regular educational system, Koreans in Germany are also served by 37 weekend Korean-language schools, the earliest of which, the Köln
Koreans' School, was established on 10 April 1973. Further schools were founded in Aachen
, Hamburg
, Rüsselsheim
, Düsseldorf
, Neunkirchen, Bickenbach
, Bochum
, Hannover, Kamp-Lintfort
, Krefeld
, Dortmund
, Germering
and Hamminkeln
in the 1970s, Essen
, Berlin
, Dudweiler
, Kassel
, Marl
, Leverkusen
, Oberhausen
, Göttingen
, Stuttgart
, Wiesbaden
, Bremen
, Karlsruhe
, Wuppertal
, Augsburg
, Heidelberg
, Herzogenaurach
, and Osnabrück
in the 1980s, and Münster
, Wolfsburg
, Kiel
, Freiburg
, Siegen
, and Rimpar
in the 1990s. As of 2007, total enrollment in all Korean schools across Germany was 1,748 students.
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (South Korea)
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade is in charge of diplomacy for South Korea, as well as handling external trade and matters related to overseas Korean nationals. It was established on 17 July 1948. Until 1998, the ministry was known as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; its jurisdiction over...
. Though they are now only the 14th-largest Korean diaspora community worldwide, they remain the second-largest in Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
, behind the rapidly-growing community of Koreans in the United Kingdom
Koreans in the United Kingdom
Koreans in the United Kingdom include Korean-born migrants to the United Kingdom and their British-born descendants.-Population size:The 2001 UK Census recorded 12,310 British residents born in South Korea...
.
South Koreans
Some students, nurses, and industrial trainees from South KoreaSouth Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
had already been in West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
in the late 1950s. However, mass migration did not begin until the 1960s, when West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
invited nurses and miner
Miner
A miner is a person whose work or business is to extract ore or minerals from the earth. Mining is one of the most dangerous trades in the world. In some countries miners lack social guarantees and in case of injury may be left to cope without assistance....
s from South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
to come as Gastarbeiter
Gastarbeiter
Gastarbeiter is German for "guest worker." It refers to migrant workers who had moved to West Germany mainly in the 1960s and 70s, seeking work as part of a formal guest worker programme...
; their recruitment of labourers specifically from South Korea was driven not just by economic necessity, but also by a desire to demonstrate support for a country that, like Germany, had been divided
Division of Korea
The division of Korea into North Korea and South Korea stems from the 1945 Allied victory in World War II, ending Japan's 35-year colonial rule of Korea. In a proposal opposed by nearly all Koreans, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to temporarily occupy the country as a trusteeship...
by ideology. The first group of miners arrived on 16 December 1963, under a programme paid for largely by the South Korean government; German enterprises were not responsible for travel costs, but only for wages and language training. They had high levels of education compared with other Gastarbeiter of the same era; over 60% had completed high school or tertiary education. Nurses began arriving in large numbers in 1966. Koreans were one of the few non-European groups recruited; West German migration policy generally excluded workers of African and Asian origin during the 1950s through 1970s. After living in Germany, some Koreans migrated onwards to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
under the relaxed entrance standards of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. Though the South Korean workers came on limited-term contracts and most initially planned to return home, in the end, half of workers enlisted ended up remaining in Germany. Throughout the 1970s, they staged protests demanding the right to stay, citing their contributions to the economy and health care system; in the end, the West German government refrained from expelling those whose work contracts had expired, instead letting them move on to other work.
North
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
and South Korea vied for influence among the Korean community in West Germany during the 1960s and 1970s; North Korea sent operatives to West Germany disguised as professors in order to recruit among the Korean community there. In 1967, South Korea forcibly extradited
Extraordinary rendition
Extraordinary rendition is the abduction and illegal transfer of a person from one nation to another. "Torture by proxy" is used by some critics to describe situations in which the United States and the United Kingdom have transferred suspected terrorists to other countries in order to torture the...
, without the consent of the West German government, a number of Koreans suspected of spying for the North, the most famous of whom was composer and German citizen Isang Yun
Isang Yun
Isang Yun was a Korean-German composer originally from Korea. According to his official publisher's Boosey & Hawkes biography of him, he was granted political asylum by West Germany, eventually becoming a naturalised German citizen, following his abduction and torture in 1967 by the South Korean...
. They were tortured to extract false confessions, and six were sentenced to death. West Germany expelled three South Korean diplomats in the aftermath of the incident, and seriously considered breaking off diplomatic relations with South Korea. However, they decided against it as the South's attention shifted to the assassination attempt on Park Chung-hee and the USS Pueblo incident
USS Pueblo (AGER-2)
USS Pueblo is an American ELINT and SIGINT Banner-class technical research ship which was boarded and captured by North Korean forces on January 23, 1968, in what is known as the Pueblo incident or alternatively as the Pueblo crisis or the Pueblo affair. Occurring less than a week after President...
, and instead worked quietly to ensure the release of those who had been kidnapped.
North Koreans
There was also a Korean presence in East Germany, though it was much smaller. During the post-Korean WarKorean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
reconstruction period of North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
from 1953 to 1962, many North Korean students enrolled in universities and colleges in the Soviet bloc, and others came as industrial trainees. In 1955, their numbers in East Germany were estimated at 334 students, 302 industrial trainees, and 298 orphans. However, as the Sino-Soviet split
Sino-Soviet split
In political science, the term Sino–Soviet split denotes the worsening of political and ideologic relations between the People's Republic of China and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics during the Cold War...
worsened, the North Korean government ordered nearly all of their overseas nationals to return home, and by 1962, few North Koreans were left in Germany. Even those who married locals obeyed the recall order and left their spouses behind; in one case, an East German woman was able to confirm that her North Korean husband was still alive after more than four decades without contact, but others have never seen or heard any information about their spouses since. In the 1980s, relations between North Korea and East Germany improved again, and about 1,500 North Korean students came to East Germany. Even after the German reunification
German reunification
German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...
, the Pyongyang
Pyongyang
Pyongyang is the capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea, and the largest city in the country. Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River and, according to preliminary results from the 2008 population census, has a population of 3,255,388. The city was...
government continued to send some students to Germany for technical training; the two countries established formal diplomatic relations in March 2001, and Germans working in North Korea have reported meeting German-speaking engineers and technicians. In 2009, North Korean scientists and engineers were denied renewal of their stay permits in Germany, even in cases where their scholarships were renewed. This was not reported in the press.
Return migration
Some Koreans settled in Germany have begun returning to South Korea after retirementRetirement
Retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours.Many people choose to retire when they are eligible for private or public pension benefits, although some are forced to retire when physical conditions don't allow the person to...
, bringing German spouses with them; this return migration has resulted in the creation of a "German Village" in South Gyeongsang's Namhae
Namhae
Namhae County is a county in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea.- Geography :Namhae county covers an area of 357 km², covering the main islands of Namhae and Changseon, the smaller islands of Jodo, Hodo and Nodo, and 65 other uninhabited islets.Namhae county also features several peaks; Mangun...
County.
Education
Over 70% of second-generation Korean descendants in Germany hold at least an AbiturAbitur
Abitur is a designation used in Germany, Finland and Estonia for final exams that pupils take at the end of their secondary education, usually after 12 or 13 years of schooling, see also for Germany Abitur after twelve years.The Zeugnis der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife, often referred to as...
or higher educational qualification, more than twice the ratio for the rest of the population (see also: Academic achievement among different groups in Germany
Academic achievement among different groups in Germany
Differences in academic achievement among different ethnic groups in Germany is a topic that has drawn the interest of the German academic and scientific communities....
). Outside of the regular educational system, Koreans in Germany are also served by 37 weekend Korean-language schools, the earliest of which, the Köln
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
Koreans' School, was established on 10 April 1973. Further schools were founded in Aachen
Aachen
Aachen has historically been a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. Geographically, Aachen is the westernmost town of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, ...
, Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, Rüsselsheim
Rüsselsheim
Rüsselsheim is the largest town in the Groß-Gerau district in the Rhein-Main region of Germany. It is one of seven special status towns in Hesse and is located on the Main, only a few kilometres from its mouth in Mainz. The suburbs of Bauschheim and Königstädten are included in Rüsselsheim...
, Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
, Neunkirchen, Bickenbach
Bickenbach
Bickenbach may refer to:*Bickenbach, Hesse, a municipality in Hesse, Germany*Bickenbach, Rhineland-Palatinate, a municipality Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany*Bickenbach, a part of Engelskirchen in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany...
, Bochum
Bochum
Bochum is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, western Germany. It is located in the Ruhr area and is surrounded by the cities of Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Herne, Castrop-Rauxel, Dortmund, Witten and Hattingen.-History:...
, Hannover, Kamp-Lintfort
Kamp-Lintfort
Kamp-Lintfort is a town in Wesel District, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located 8 km north-west of Moers.- Twin towns :Kamp-Linfort is twinned with the town of Chester-le-Street in the North East of England....
, Krefeld
Krefeld
Krefeld , also known as Crefeld until 1929, is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, its centre lying just a few kilometres to the west of the River Rhine; the borough of Uerdingen is situated directly on the Rhine...
, Dortmund
Dortmund
Dortmund is a city in Germany. It is located in the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr area. Its population of 585,045 makes it the 7th largest city in Germany and the 34th largest in the European Union....
, Germering
Germering
Germering is a city within the district of Fürstenfeldbruck, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated approx. 15 km west of Munich. The popular German band Sportfreunde Stiller is from here.-History:...
and Hamminkeln
Hamminkeln
Hamminkeln is a town in the district of Wesel, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated on the river Issel, approximately 10 kilometers north of Wesel. It is twinned with Sedgefield, United Kingdom...
in the 1970s, Essen
Essen
- Origin of the name :In German-speaking countries, the name of the city Essen often causes confusion as to its origins, because it is commonly known as the German infinitive of the verb for the act of eating, and/or the German noun for food. Although scholars still dispute the interpretation of...
, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Dudweiler
Dudweiler
Dudweiler is a borough of Saarbrücken, on the Sulzbach creek. In 977, Dudweiler was first mentioned in official documents of German Emperor Otto II as the location of a chapel .Dudweiler received town privileges on 12 September 1962....
, Kassel
Kassel
Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...
, Marl
Marl, Germany
Marl is a town and a municipality in the district of Recklinghausen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated near the Wesel-Datteln Canal, approx. 10 km north-west of Recklinghausen. It has about 90,000 people.- Location :...
, Leverkusen
Leverkusen
Leverkusen is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany on the eastern bank of the Rhine. To the South, Leverkusen borders the city of Cologne and to the North is the state capital Düsseldorf....
, Oberhausen
Oberhausen
Oberhausen is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg and Essen . The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is an anchor point of the European Route of Industrial Heritage. It is also well known for the...
, Göttingen
Göttingen
Göttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...
, Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
, Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...
, Bremen
Bremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...
, Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...
, Wuppertal
Wuppertal
Wuppertal is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in and around the Wupper river valley, and is situated east of the city of Düsseldorf and south of the Ruhr area. With a population of approximately 350,000, it is the largest city in the Bergisches Land...
, Augsburg
Augsburg
Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...
, Heidelberg
Heidelberg
-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
, Herzogenaurach
Herzogenaurach
Herzogenaurach is a town in the district of Erlangen-Höchstadt, in Bavaria, Germany. It is probably best known for being the home of the sporting goods companies Adidas and Puma.-Geography:...
, and Osnabrück
Osnabrück
Osnabrück is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, some 80 km NNE of Dortmund, 45 km NE of Münster, and some 100 km due west of Hanover. It lies in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest...
in the 1980s, and Münster
Münster
Münster is an independent city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also capital of the local government region Münsterland...
, Wolfsburg
Wolfsburg
Wolfsburg is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located on the River Aller northeast of Braunschweig , and is mainly notable as the headquarters of Volkswagen AG...
, Kiel
Kiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...
, Freiburg
Freiburg
Freiburg im Breisgau is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. In the extreme south-west of the country, it straddles the Dreisam river, at the foot of the Schlossberg. Historically, the city has acted as the hub of the Breisgau region on the western edge of the Black Forest in the Upper Rhine Plain...
, Siegen
Siegen
Siegen is a city in Germany, in the south Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia.It is located in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein in the Arnsberg region...
, and Rimpar
Rimpar
Rimpar is a market town in the district of Würzburg in the German state of Bavaria. It is located about 10 km north of the City of Würzburg. The municipality includes the villages of Gramschatz and Maidbronn, incorporated in 1978....
in the 1990s. As of 2007, total enrollment in all Korean schools across Germany was 1,748 students.
Notable people
- Cha Bum-KunCha Bum-KunCha Bum-Kun is a South Korean football manager and former player, nicknamed Tscha Bum in Germany because of his name and his thunderous ball striking ability. In South Korea, Cha is greatly respected for his accomplishments in the Bundesliga and the South Korean national team...
, famous football player in BundesligaFußball-BundesligaThe Fußball-Bundesliga is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of Germany's football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is contested by 18 teams and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the 2. Bundesliga...
, known as Tscha Bum ("Cha Boom") - Unsuk ChinUnsuk ChinUnsuk Chin , is a South Korean composer of classical music, based in Berlin, Germany. She was awarded the Grawemeyer Award in 2004 and the Arnold Schönberg Prize in 2005.- Biography :...
, composer - Ji-In ChoJi-In ChoJi-In Cho is a German heavy metal singer of Korean descent. She has been the lead vocalist and pianist of the power metal band Krypteria since December 2004.-Biography:Ji-In Cho discovered her passion for music as a child...
, lead singer for German heavy metal band KrypteriaKrypteriaKrypteria is a symphonic metal band from Germany. Originating from a 2001 "pop musical theatre studio project" of the same name, the idea was to use different vocalists, though German-Korean singer Ji-In Cho assumed the role of lead vocalist in 2004... - Simone Hauswald, Eurasian biathlete
- Martin HyunMartin HyunMartin Hyun is an author and former ice hockey player in Germany's Deutsche Eishockey Liga.-Hockey career:...
, hockey player - Eunsook Lee, Korean artist residing in Germany who is famous for her Vanished Berlin Wall
- In-Ah LeeIn-Ah LeeIn-Ah Lee is a German film producer based in Los Angeles, California.Prior to establishing LeeLee Films with writer/director Grace Lee, In-Ah Lee was head of production at the German-based Reverse Angle Production owned by Wim Wenders and his partner Peter Schwartzkopff...
, film director from Hamburg now based in Los Angeles - Mirok LiMirok LiMirok Li was a Korean writer who spent much of the twentieth century in exile in Germany. Li was responsible for translating several Korean stories into German.-Biography:...
, novelist - Oh Kil-namOh Kil-namOh Kil-nam is a retired South Korean economist, who defected to North Korea with his wife Shin Suk-jaand daughters, then left them behind to obtain political asylum in Europe.-Early life and education:...
, economist, defected to North Korea with wife Shin Suk-jaShin Suk-jaShin Suk-ja is a South Korean political prisoner held in a North Korean political prison camp. She is married to Oh Kil-nam and has two daughters Oh Hye-won and Oh Kyu-won...
and two daughters, then returned to Europe alone to seek political asylum - Nela Panghy-Lee, anchor and actress of Korean-Huingarian ancestry who was born in TettnangTettnangTettnang is a town in the Bodensee district in southern Baden-Württemberg in a region of Germany known as Swabia.It lies 7 kilometers from Lake Constance. The region produces significant quantities of hops, an ingredient of beer, and ships them to breweries throughout the world.-History:Tettinang...
. - Song Du-yulSong Du-yulSong Du-yul is a professor of philosophy and sociology at the University of Münster in Münster, Germany. He has been a political exile in Germany from his native South Korea for over 40 years. Educated in South Korea, he left that nation for Germany in 1967 to pursue higher education...
, philosophy professor and former prisoner under South Korea's National Security ActNational Security Act (South Korea)The National Security Law is a South Korean law which has the avowed purpose "to restrict anti-state acts that endanger national security and to protect [the] nation's safety and its people's life and freedom."... - Isang YunIsang YunIsang Yun was a Korean-German composer originally from Korea. According to his official publisher's Boosey & Hawkes biography of him, he was granted political asylum by West Germany, eventually becoming a naturalised German citizen, following his abduction and torture in 1967 by the South Korean...
, composer and former political prisoner