North Korean defectors Kim Kwang-hyok and Ko Jong-nam dreamed of a life free from repression and hunger.

Nearly four years later they found themselves at the bottom of the social ladder, suffering from financial difficulties, prejudice and social isolation.

That was the “miserable life” in the South the couple described at a news conference in Pyongyang on Nov. 8 after they returned to the North with their 2-year-old son Se-han.

According to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency, Kim, 27, and wife Ko, 30, said they “were taken away to South Korea by dint of gimmicks, appeasement and manipulation of brokers and agents” of its intelligence agency and aware that their stay “would only bring death to them.”

Kim’s family is the latest in a recent string of North Korean defectors returning to their impoverished home, stoking concerns over their resettlement and adaptability in the better-off, democratic South.

In June, the KCNA reported a similar case of another defector who went back on foot. It claimed that Park Jong-suk was “disillusioned” with South Korean society and dragged into the “wrong ideological state” by operatives here.

In May, Chon Yong-chol triggered a furor after claiming that he was directed by a group of defectors, Seoul’s spy agency and the U.S. to blow up a statue in a border city of its national founder Kim Il-sung.

“I regret that already three similar redefection incidents have occurred this year. We will make greater efforts and pay closer attention to help defectors better adjust to our society,” said Unification Ministry spokesperson Kim Hyung-suk.

Kim said his agency is investigating the reason for their return, dismissing the news reports as “groundless and absurd.” The regime habitually mobilizes its propaganda machine, glorifying its leaders’ achievements and casting South Koreans as victims of capitalism.

Analysts say the rare conferences are more likely designed to reinforce security control and send a warning to other defectors here, who would generally be incarcerated, tortured or slain in prison camps if caught or forcibly repatriated.

As the new leadership tightens its grip, the number of new defectors here dropped sharply to 1,202 in the first 10 months of the year, compared with last year’s total 2,706.

“The state media appears to propagate the North’s system by emphasizing that the South is not a livable place given that most North Koreans know there are people defecting,” said Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korean studies professor at Dongguk University in Seoul.

“With the Kim Jong-un regime taking off, it’s also probably aimed at boosting hopes and expectations for a new era.”

Some observers speculate that the couple may have been captured as it has happened before while helping other defectors in border towns in China. Then they could have also agreed to hold a press call in return for lighter penalties, they say.

Some members of a Daegu-based civic group reportedly said that Kim and Ko were striving hard for a better living such as by taking a six-month computer training course though the husband had been on and off the payroll due to health issues.

Kim’s mother and younger brother still live in Daegu.

“While watching the reports, I felt that they may have been sent here by the regime as more people escape and yearn for life in the South. Or they had a hard time adapting here and went back thinking of playing double or nothing and then realized that they had to pump out lies to survive there,” said Kang Chul-ho, a Christian minister who fled the North in 1992.

Nonetheless, the young couple’s story may provide a lesson.

Defectors here have reported a wide range of social and financial problems. Cultural and educational gaps could take years to overcome. Prejudice among South Koreans is another factor as politics and ideology frame them despite their common ethnicity.

A 2011 survey on 8,299 defectors by the North Korean Refugees Foundation showed that more than 30 percent earn less than 1 million won ($919) a month. The jobless rate averaged at 12.1 percent ― 3.3 times the general population’s 3.7 percent.

In some cases, they opt to leave for a third country such as the U.S., Britain or Australia, seeking to access a better social safety net and to break free from social exclusion and cutthroat competition with more affluent, better educated South Koreans in an already saturated job market.

Critics have called on the government to set up a system to help defectors land a more secure job and plan for their later years.

While acknowledging the importance of state support, Kang stressed that defectors themselves should make greater efforts to build a better future.

“Everyone goes through this period to adjust to cultural differences, social prejudice and so on. But why bother? You’d better strive to learn and get used to the society you are in. How can the government take care of so many defectors forever?” he told The Korea Herald.

Koh of Dongguk said: “It’s not a matter of support because most problems originate from differences in systems between the two countries. Even if you literally take the re-defectors’ words as reported, they could have difficulties shifting to an active life from passive.”

More than 24,300 North Koreans have arrived in the South since the 1950-53 Korean War, ministry numbers show, largely via China, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries.

Since a 1997 North Korean refugee law, the central and local governments have rolled out a series of programs to fund everything from housing to education to job training.

The ministry’s defector-related budget neared 124 billion won this year, making up about 58 percent of the total.

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)