A defector from North Korea has obtained a doctorate from a U.S. university on a Fulbright scholarship.
Kim Seong-ryeol (37) recently earned his PhD in international relations from Syracuse University, the first of four North Korean defectors on doctoral courses on the scholarship to complete his thesis.
Kim told Voice of America on Wednesday that he wants North Korean defectors to look beyond their home country and broaden their horizons.
"Young defectors do not know much about democracy or free market values because they were not taught about them when they were in the North," he said. "I feel so privileged to be able to study in the U.S. on a Fulbright scholarship."
A native of Chongjin in North Hamgyong Province, Kim dropped out of middle school when he was in seventh grade to help his mother sell wheat flour because his family was poor. His family crossed the border to China in 1997, only to be caught and sent back to the North. They fled again in 2004, when he was 19, and finally settled in South Korea.
In South Korea he had to go back to school and then studied at Handong Global University and obtained a master's degree in Korean unification studies from Yonsei University.
The number of defectors from North Korea who gain American university degrees is increasing, VOA reported.
Two young defectors living in South Korea have landed a Fulbright scholarship this year, bringing the total to 15. Five defectors won the scholarship in 2018, four in 2019, one in 2020, and three last year.
