Gov't faces backlash from defectors over regulating remittances to N. Korea

SEOUL, May 26 (Yonhap) -- North Korean defectors in South Korea complained this week against a government move to regulate their money transfers to their families left behind in their impoverished homeland.
Some defectors have sent money to their families to support them in a country beset by chronic food shortages and other economic difficulties.
The practice has been going on for many years, though there is no official estimate on how much money has been funneled to the North.
The Unification Ministry has announced its plans to revise a law that would require defectors to receive government approval before sending money to their families.
The ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said the move is aimed at legalizing the money transfers and increasing their transparency.
Defectors said their families in the North usually receive some 70 percent of their remittances as brokers who arrange the deals take some 30 percent of the money as a fee.
The ministry said it would give some wiggle room for defectors by exempting them from receiving mandatory approval in case they remit a certain amount of money for their families to support them or to help them seek medical treatment.
Details have yet to be arranged. The revision process would take months as other government ministries must screen any changes before the new law's submission to the legislature for approval.
The new revision is expected to take effect as early as the second half of next year.
The move "is not trying to regulate humanitarian money remittance," a government official said on condition of anonymity, citing office policy.
Still, the proposed move triggered a backlash from defectors, who fear that the government regulation could complicate the process of money remittance and jeopardize their families in the North.
"I have no choice but to give money to family members in the North as they live on the money I send to them, but I cannot give any information to the government," a defector said, asking not to be identified, citing security concerns for family members in the North.
A survey showed nearly 200 defectors said they have sent money to their families in the North. The survey was conducted by a private human rights group last year on some 400 North Korean defectors in South Korea.
More than 21,000 North Koreans have defected to the South to avoid chronic hunger and political oppression since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a cease-fire.
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