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Behind stories of North Korean defectors crossing the border and escaping out to South Korea and China, the legalities behind the process are something that is scarcely pursued. Are North Korean defectors still considered defectors? What about double defectors that go back to North Korea after escaping? Can people outside North Korea apply for North Korean citizenship? Today, we will cover different types of North Korean citizenship and special cases.
The main methods are called Jus sanguinis and Jus soli, meaning "right of the blood” and "right of soil,” respectively. Jus sanguinis means a child born between two North Korean citizens will automatically be granted North Korean citizenship. If the parents cannot be identified but the child was born on North Korean soil, the child can still be granted citizenship in some cases through Jus soli. Jus soli is a lot less common than Jus sanguinis, as the process for Jus soli isn’t automatic.
An alternate method is naturalization, although it only happens in extremely rare cases. According to North Korean laws, those aiming to attain North Korean citizenship through naturalization send their request to the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA). Although the SPA is where the requests are accepted, the final decision is made by the Acting Supreme Leader. One interesting aspect of naturalized North Korean citizens is that they are given a separate status of “foreign origin” and are thus exempt from training sessions.
North Korean defectors are still officially North Korean citizens. However, in most cases, captured defectors will face years of punishment or reeducation camps such as the Chungsan or Chongori camp. Some are even sent for execution in political prison camps such as the Pukchang camp. However, there are cases where double defectors that come back to North Korea aren’t punished. Instead, their songbun, or social status, is lowered to a lower class of citizen.
Similar to naturalization, there are very specific cases where people outside of North Korea have gotten North Korean citizenship after the Korean War. One example of this was Joe Dresnok, one of six American soldiers who defected to North Korea. Dresnok acted in propaganda films in order to get more American soldiers to defect and worked as an English teacher in Pyongyang. Dresnok was also featured in various films and documentaries, including a program called 60 Minutes by CBS magazine.
Tommy Y.
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