3.3.2. Lack of Parenting Information

The shortage of parenting information was a common characteristic among NK refugee parents. Since there are no parenting education programs in North Korea, NK refugee parents enter into the South without knowledge relating to parenting. South Korea currently has a variety of parental education programs, but lacks customized parenting education programs for NK refugees. Aside from this, it is very di fficult for those who have to engage in irregular economic activities to participate in education programs. The NK refugee parents also lack social support resources, so they do not have supporters to turn to and ask for help when raising children is di fficult. Thus, they gradually lose confidence in their role as parents. The problem is that in such cases, they tend to choose a corporal punishment-oriented parenting style, which is familiar to them from their North Korean culture.

*"I heard that there are many parenting education programs in South Korea, but it doesn't really help us as it is more important for us to make money than learning from the program. So* ... *I raise my child by how I learned in North Korea."* [Participant A]

In sum, NK refugee parents experience emotional crises and stress in the process of defection, which weakens the functionality of the family or individual. These risk factors a ffect their parenting style. The

three meta-categories identified in this study as single factors directly affect the way children are raised and are associated with abusive behavior. This study confirmed that the factors are interrelated and induce child abuse. Moreover, the absence of protective factors, such as support resources and parenting information in South Korean society were revealed to make their abusive behavior tendencies more serious.
