Seoul proposes July 14 as national day honoring North Korean refugees

Women originally from North Korea receive vocational training at Hanawon, a state-run adjustment and education center for North Korean escapees, in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, in this July 10, 2023 photo. Seoul said on Wednesday that it plans to designate July 14 as a national day for North Korean refugees. Joint Press Corps

Seoul seeks to designate July 14 as a national day in honor of North Korean refugees. This initiative is part of broader efforts to raise awareness of human rights issues in North Korea.

Speaking at a meeting of the Presidential Committee of National Cohesion on Wednesday, Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho said the day would be celebrated as a symbolic one for the nation’s unity and in hopes for peaceful unification with the North.

As part of the project for North Korean freedom-seekers, the ministry also plans to set up a memorial to honor those who died trying to escape the regime, Kim added.

“Many of the North Korean escapees we had meetings with for this project suggested the need to commemorate the victims who didn’t make it, saying they were just lucky to survive,” an official told reporters the previous day.

If everything goes as scheduled, the ministry will finish the administrative work necessary to designate the national day in the coming months and hold public events for its inaugural celebration this summer. It plans to do so promptly through an executive order first before seeking the National Assembly’s approval, which could take a long time, officials said.

The announcement follows President Yoon Suk Yeol's directive about a month ago to establish a national day aimed at assisting North Korean escapees adapt to their new environment. This directive was made during a Cabinet meeting on Jan. 16. Additionally, the previous month, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared that he would cease pursuing peaceful unification with South Korea.

Ministry officials said one of the goals of the project is to counter Kim's message — by promoting that the Korean Peninsula should be united peacefully one day for the sake of all Koreans.

One of the key considerations regarding the project was determining the most appropriate day to symbolize its significance. Suggestions included Feb. 5, representing the 25 million people living in the North, and Feb. 1, symbolizing the unification of two distinct entities into a single country, among others.

Eventually, July 14 was selected as it was the day South Korea’s first law designed to protect and support North Korean escapees came into force in 1997. Officials said they came to that conclusion after speaking with representatives of many North Korean defector groups.

The official English name for the day has not been determined yet. Officials said they would consult with other ministries and rights groups on the matter before coming up with one.