Britain helps NK defectors learn English

Hugo Swire, fifth from left in the second row, British minister of state at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, poses for a photo during an event to celebrate the re-launch of the English for the Future Program designed for North Korean defectors at the British Embassy in Seoul Tuesday. Joining him include British Ambassador Scott Wightman, third from left in the second row, Unification Minister Yu Woo-ik, forth from left, Park Jin, third from right, a former lawmaker and now president of Korea-Britain Society. / Courtesy of the British Embassy

Kim Ji-young, 30, a North Korean defector, recalled that she struggled in class four years ago when she first attended a business management course at Sung Kyun Kwan University in Seoul.

The “new settler” said almost half the words that her professor used in class were English and this troubled her as she didn’t understand what those words meant back then.

The Korean government coined the term of new settlers to refer to people who were born and raised in North Korea and settled down in the South after escaping from their homeland.

From two years ago, Kim, now a college graduate, has taken a free English course designed for new settlers by the British Council, in collaboration with the British Embassy in Seoul.

Speaking at the event to mark the re-launch of the “English for the Future Program” at the British Embassy in Seoul Tuesday, Kim said that now she had no problem understanding English.

“Two years ago, I decided to learn English in order to survive. Now I learn it to make my dream come true,” the college graduate said.

Dozens of attendees of the event applauded as she delivered the touching speech. Those attending included Hugo Swire, British minister of state at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Unification Minister Yu Woo-ik and Scott Wightman, British ambassador to Korea.

Several new settlers, who took the English course at the British Council, also joined the gathering.

Later in the event, a quartet consisting of two female and two male new settlers, including Kim, performed some songs. They sang the Beatles’ hit “Hey Jude” and a cheerful North Korean song, dubbed “Whistle.”

Oh Se-hyuk, 35, also one of the four performers, benefitted a lot from the free English course. Last year, he won a British government scholarship covering a one-year master’s degree program in globalization and development at the University of Sheffield after taking the English course.

Oh returned to Seoul and worked with a non-profit group dedicated to helping new settlers after completing the graduate program with a master’s thesis.

“In the beginning after arriving in Britain for study, I had a hard time understanding English partly because some people out there used dialect. I learned standard British English at the council so the dialect made it hard for me to understand,” he said.

“As time went by, however, I came to adapt to the new environment and had no major problem finishing my studies there.”

The free English program provided a window of opportunity to the new settlers as English is the language of international business.

Kim said she passed the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC), a requirement for graduation from university, thanks to the free English program. English proficiency scores are one of the key criterion employers use when they hire employees.

After meeting and having conversation with several new settlers taking the English program and organizers of the program, British Minster Swire said it is an “incredibly” good course and a very worthwhile.

“It’s a good thing for the United Kingdom to be involved in it. I would like to see a great number of people making use of this opportunity,” he said during a press meeting held after the event. <The Korea Times/Kang Hyun-kyung>