Strangers in the Same Nation: Financial Dissatisfaction and the Conditional Acceptance of North Korean Defectors

Rising economic inequality has renewed scholarly attention to how financial dissatisfaction shapes public attitudes toward perceived outsiders. While much of this research focuses on immigrant-receiving Western democracies, South Korea presents a theoretically distinctive case. Despite legal homogeneity and constitutional recognition of shared ethnicity, North Korean defectors—who receive substantial state support upon arrival—are often viewed as economically burdensome and culturally distant. This study examines how subjective economic insecurity influences attitudes toward North Korean defectors, with particular attention to perceived labor market threat and the role of interpersonal contact. Using nationally representative survey data, this study employs path analysis and moderated regression models to evaluate both direct and indirect relationships. The results show that financial dissatisfaction increases perceived job threat from defectors, which in turn reduces support for their acceptance. However, this threat perception is mitigated among respondents who have had direct contact with defectors—particularly those experiencing economic strain. These findings contribute to research on migration, redistribution, and national identity by demonstrating that co-ethnicity and citizenship do not guarantee social inclusion. They underscore the conditional nature of contact effects and highlight how symbolic boundaries and material grievances jointly shape exclusionary attitudes—even within formally homogeneous societies.