The government will introduce a new education system for North Korean defectors, extending the orientation period and focusing more on the psychological stability, cultural adjustment and vocational training.

From next month, defectors from the communist North will receive three months of education from the current two, at Hanawon, a halfway house set up south of Seoul to help North Korean asylum-seekers adjust to a new life in the capitalist South.

The new plan also includes increased time on history and second language classes along with group counseling sessions. The defectors will also have on-hand experience of South Korean life through various homestay programs.

The government opened the resettlement center for North Korean defectors in 1998.