Pusan National University (PNU) created first-ever guidelines for supporting multicultural and North Korean refugee students, and a full-fledged welfare program is expected to be implemented.

On April 14th, the Office of Student Affairs of PNU announced that PNU's “Guidelines for Supporting Multicultural and North Korean Students” have been confirmed. The guidelines were enacted to create and systematically support the on-campus education base for multicultural and North Korean students attending PNU.

The support guidelines consist of a total of five articles and specify the clauses that can be applied to multicultural and North Korean students. According to the guidelines, the students can receive support for learning and comparative subject activities, college life and student welfare, career and psychological counseling programs, and employment and start-up activities. Support is available if the need is recognized, even if the student requests it in person.

The Office of Student Affairs said that although the application guidelines have been confirmed, the specific application details have not been decided. That is, the plan will be finalized by collecting opinions from students eligible for support. According to the Office of Student Affairs, currently, the list of applicants and students has been organized. It was decided to meet with the students in May to identify the necessary parts and determine whether they can apply. Regarding the application, students and Park Sang-Joon, head of the student support team, explained, "We are considering ways such as prioritizing to select multicultural and North Korean students as mentors in mentoring for multicultural and North Korean and donating education run by PNU, or selecting working scholarships within a certain percentage," but said, "We are holding a meeting because we don't know whether they really want these ways.”

Currently, about 200 multicultural and North Korean students are a part of PNU. As the admissions were reorganized in 2022, the number decreased, but according to the whole school, there are not a few people. According to the Office of Student Affairs, an average of 59 multicultural and North Korean defector students entered in 2020 and 2021, 10 in 2022, and 4 in 2023. Team leader Park said, "The number of successful multicultural and North Korean students has decreased due to the reorganization of social care candidates during the entrance examination,” adding, “The type is divided into (I) and (II), but in the 2022 (I) type, students who are residents of farming and fishing towns were selected, and residents of children's welfare facilities, incurable diseases, and students from multicultural families were concentrated in (II). Therefore, the number of multicultural and North Korean students decreased.”

The Office of Student Affairs announced that it would make efforts in various ways to support multicultural and North Korean defectors, which have been poor so far, with this guideline as a way to build momentum. Team leader Park said, "In terms of supporting minority students, support for disabled students is going well, but support for multicultural and North Korean defectors was relatively insufficient." He continued, adding, "We plan to create as many programs as possible to make students go to school happily without worrying."

Reporter Shin Yu-Jun

Translated by Kim Hyeon-Hee