S. Korea to host press tour of resettlement center for N.K. defectors

SEOUL, June 28 (Yonhap) -- South Korea plans to host a rare press tour of its
resettlement center for North Korean defectors next week to mark the 10th
anniversary of the facility, Unification Ministry officials said Sunday.
The Hanawon resettlement center, surrounded by hills and monitored by security
guards in the city of Anseong south of Seoul, is the first stop-over for North
Koreans who have defected from their communist homeland. The center opened on
July 8, 1999.
Local and foreign journalists will be invited to tour Hanawon after the 10th
anniversary ceremony on that date in the first major publicity event at the
tightly guarded facility, officials said. The ceremony will be attended by
Unification Minister Hyun In-taek and lawmakers, they said.
More than 16,000 North Koreans have fled to the more affluent South since the
1950-53 Korean War, with the number of defectors rising every year from 1,138 in
2002 to 2,809 last year. Hanawon provides a compulsory 12-week education program
to help defectors better adjust to life in the capitalist South.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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