The securitisation of refugee flows and the schooling of refugees: examining the cases of North Koreans in South Korea and Iraqis in Jordan

Abstract

Drawing on data collected in South Korea, Jordan and the USA, this paper examines the degree to which security concerns impact the schooling of North Korean refugees in South Korea and Iraqi refugees in Jordan. Operating from a framework examining the intersection of migration and securitisation, the authors find that accounts of negative images of and identity concealment among North Korean students present the most compelling linkages to a larger phenomenon of societal securitisation. At the same time, South Korean perceptions of North Koreans’ level of preparedness for working in a capitalist society present the most compelling linkages to economic securitisation. With respect to Christian Iraqi refugees in Jordan, plausible connections can be drawn between societal security and an Iraqi identity generally. With respect to economic concerns in Jordan, measures taken to restrict Iraqi integration into the labour force can be seen as security actions.

Keywords:

• refugees
• security
• North Korea
• Iraq
• South Korea
• Jordan

Notes

1. One of the most notable was the November 2005 hotel bombings in Amman, which killed 60 people and for which three Iraqis were held responsible (see International Crisis Group 2008).

2. There have, however, been a number of high-profile cases of North Korean espionage in South Korea. See ‘S Korea accuses refugee of spying’, BBC News, August 27, 2008 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7583817.stm); ‘Seoul charges North Korea “spies”’, BBC News, December 8, 2006 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6220316.stm); ‘South Korea arrests six North Korean spies’, BBC News, November 20, 1997 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/monitoring/33153.stm)

3. Public schools in Jordan cannot legally discriminate against Christian students.