[The Seoul Shinmun] “I used to wonder what kind of sport this was with a stick… and now I’ve become a caddie”

The Seoul Shinmun introduced the stories of two graduates from the third cohort of the caddie training program for North Korean defectors, which GOLFZON Yuwon Group and the Korea Hana Foundation under the Ministry of Unification have run since 2015. La Se-ha (36) and Kim Ye-eun (25), who completed three months of training and now work as full-fledged caddies at a GOLFZON County golf course in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, started out without even knowing the basics of golf and entered South Korea’s job market after going through the ups and downs of their first rounds, the paper reported. GOLFZON Yuwon Group added that it has placed a total of 17 North Korean defectors—4 in the first cohort, 5 in the second, and 8 in the third—as full-time caddies at five GOLFZON County golf courses nationwide.

The Seoul Shinmun reported that the two graduates, while experiencing big and small mishaps due to their North Korean accents, blunt manner of speaking, and unfamiliar golf terminology, are adapting to caddie life with the goal of achieving a stable income and self-reliance.

The Seoul Shinmun also conveyed that, although GOLFZON continues its social contribution efforts to provide professional jobs to North Korean defectors, the realities of the caddie profession—which requires considerable physical stamina and time—mean that only some of the graduates keep the job over the long term.