Hanawon

The Settlement Support Center for North Korean Refugees (Korean: 북한이탈주민정착지원사무소/北韓離脫住民定着支援事務所 Bughan Ital Jumin Jeongchagjiwon Samuso), commonly known as Hanawon (하나원/하나院, "House of Unity") is a South Korean facility for reeducation of North Korean defectors.

Hanawon opened on 8 July 1999, and is located about an hour south of Seoul in the countryside of Anseong, Gyeonggi Province. In her book Nothing To Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, journalist Barbara Demick describes Hanawon as a cross between a trade school and a halfway house, and describes its purpose as teaching North Koreans how to live on their own in South Korea.

Originally built to accommodate around 200 people for a three-month resettlement program, in 2002 the facility's capacity was doubled to 400. In 2004, to mark the fifth anniversary of the program, a second facility opened south of Seoul.

At Hanawon, the three-month training curriculum is focused on three main goals: easing the socioeconomic and psychological anxiety of North Korean defectors; overcoming the barriers of cultural heterogeneity; and offering practical training for earning a livelihood in the South. Refugees relearn the peninsula's history, i.e. that the North started the Korean War, and take classes on human rights and the mechanics of democracy. They are taught how to use an ATM, pay an electric bill, drive a car, read the Latin alphabet and speak the South Korean dialect. They are taken on field trips to buy clothes, get haircuts, and eat at a food court.

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Wikipedia