North Korean defector becomes governor of home province

North Korean defector Ji Seong-ho, who completed his term as a lawmaker with the ruling People Power Party in May, took office as the governor of his hometown North Hamgyong Province on Wednesday.

South Korea appoints heads of offices to govern areas north of the inter-Korean border. Their affairs are overseen by the Ministry of Interior and Safety’s Committee for the Five Northern Korean Provinces.

These largely symbolic roles are intended to keep in line with Article 3 of the Constitution which considers all of the Korean Peninsula and its adjacent islands to be South Korean territory.

At the inauguration ceremony, Ji said he believes the Five Northern Korean Provinces Committee reflects the Yoon Suk Yeol administration’s view of the future of the Korean Peninsula.

Citing Yoon’s remarks earlier this year, the former lawmaker said: “The president said, ‘We must now move toward a unified Korean Peninsula where all Koreans are free.’ He also said restoring the freedom and human rights of North Koreans is an ‘important foundation for achieving a unified and peaceful Korea.’”

Ji said that these remarks reaffirm the administration’s commitment to a South Korea-led reunification of the peninsula under a free democracy.

“To live up to this vision, support for North Korean escapees will be strengthened,” he said. “Government subsidies for helping North Korean defectors settle in South Korea will be expanded. Educational support will be extended to children of defectors in third countries.”

He said as governor, among his chief jobs was to prepare for the unification of the Koreas.

“Our Committee of the Five North Korean Provinces must be prepared to immediately continue and complete tasks in the event of unification taking place at any given moment,” he said.

“We are ready for a unified Korea, may the day come today or tomorrow.”

North Hamgyong Province is home to the largest number of North Korean defectors in South Korea, accounting for approximately 60 percent of them, according to Ji.

“About 30 years ago, I was among the poorest children in North Korea,” the governor said. “Today South Korea made me the governor of North Hamgyong Province, where my family lived in abject poverty for three generations.”

Ji defected to South Korea in July 2006, about a decade after he fell off a freight train trying to steal a lump of coal to trade for food and had his arm and leg amputated as a result of the injury from the accident.

He was elected a member of the National Assembly in 2020 through the proportional representation system.