OVERVIEW

THERE ARE ABOUT 27,000 NORTH KOREANS CURRENTLY LIVING IN SOUTH KOREA. AT FIRST DEFECTORS WERE GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS WHO HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO WORK ABROAD AND THEN MADE THE DECISION NOT TO GO BACK. IN EXCHANGE FOR IMPORTANT INTELLIGENCE INFORMATION THEY WERE GIVEN PROTECTION AND SUPPORT IN THE SOUTH. NOW AS LIVING STANDARDS HAVE PLUMMETED IN NORTH KOREA IN THE LAST DECADE, DEFECTORS ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE YOUNG PEOPLE FROM THE REGION ALONG THE CHINESE BORDER. THEY ARE USUALLY UNEDUCATED AND UNSKILLED. SOUTH KOREANS GENERALLY FEEL SOME DEGREE OF OBLIGATION TOWARDS THEIR NEIGHBOURS BUT ARE BECOMING LESS WILLING TO PICK UP THE BILL AS THEIR OWN ECONOMY FEELS THE STRAIN. MOST NORTH KOREANS GRANTED REFUGE BY THE SOUTH ARE GIVEN NEW NAMES AND AVOID PUBLICITY FOR FEAR THAT IF THEY BECOME VISIBLE THE REGIME WILL PUNISH THE FAMILY MEMBERS THEY HAVE LEFT BEHIND IN THE NORTH. SOME OF THESE YOUNG ‘SETTLERS’, TO USE THE MOST POLITICALLY CORRECT TERM, ARE NOW STANDING UP TO BE COUNTED, WORKING HARD TO MAKE CHANGE HAPPEN AND DARING TO HOPE THAT A BETTER FUTURE IS WITHIN THEIR GRASP. THIS IS A PERSONAL SERIES THAT I TOOK AS A PHOTOGRAPHER ON LOCATION IN SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA. THESE IMAGES HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED IN THE GERMAN NEWSPAPER “DIE ZEIT” AND IN THE AUSTRALIAN MAGAZINE “OPEN MANIFESTO”.

FURTHER INFO ON

PHOTOGRAPHER

NILS CLAUSS

CLIENT

PERSONAL