My Own Fortune is a popular folktale which is widely observed and documented throughout the Korean Peninsula before the division. The tale continues to be told from generations to generations in South Korea. A resembling tale can be found in The Collection of Chosun Folktales under the title Father and the Three Daughters. This tale’s format very closely resembles that of My Own Fortune, hence making it a valuable material when comparing tales in South and North Korea. My Own Fortune and Father and the Three Daughters both begin with a very similar narrative. The father in both tales asks a question “On whose fortune do you live well?” wishing to confirm that his daughters love him and respect his authority as the leader of the family. The two stories begin to differ as his third and the youngest daughter in each story answers his question identically but with different intentions. From this point in the story the two tales diverge. My Own Fortune is a story of an independent woman standing alone from her parents and building her own success, whereas Father and the Three Daughters is about a very filial woman achieving her dream when her father eventually acknowledges her love of the Parent. North Korea’s Father and the Three Daughters focus on the value of family and offspring’s filial duty. In contrast, My Own Fortune depicts an independent woman. Despite the difference, the two tales follow same story format, as Father and the Three Daughters adopted the format of My Own Fortune, which is one of the traditional folk tale formats in Korea. North Korea regime probably did adopt the format of My Own Fortune for Father and the Three Daughters because inhabitants in the Korean Peninsula have long enjoyed the stories of the like of My Own Fortune. For the regime to utilize Father and the Three Daughters as means to reform people, the regime would probably have thought that adopting popular and widely accepted stories would be more beneficial. It is probable that Father and the Three Daughters is derived from My Own Fortune, the story generally enjoyed by Koreans before the division. Findings of common folktales culture in South and North Korea, despite the two nations' long separation, suggest that literary communication between the countries, based on common grounds, is possible. But for such communication to happen, understanding of both the common and the different must be preceded. Communication can be defined as the steps of admitting and attempting to understand the difference between the parties. It is because changeability of the relationship based on differences may be the most accurate solution to soften current relationship of two Koreas which is solidifying its exclusivity and hostility. The author wishes that his analysis of My Own Fortune and Father and the Three Daughters to be a humble work to contribute to such communication that embraces both the common and the different.

This article is a research that surveyed and compared everyday customs, such as food, clothing and shelter, rites and seasonal rituals, and awareness of daily issues, such as views on family values, marriage, education and career, of South Koreans with that of North Korean defectors, in order to better understand the characteristics of living culture of South Koreans and North Korean defectors and to search for ways for the two groups to communicate better and culturally integrate. The results of the research show that, in relation to everyday customs such as clothing, food and shelter, rites and seasonal rituals, both South Koreans and North Korean defectors had transformed the traditional living culture to befit the lifestyles of the modern era. It seems that everyday customs of South Koreans had become more westernized while North Korean defectors maintained more traditional customs, but such difference decreased as defectors spent longer time in South Korea. One commonality in everyday customs found between the two was that customs acted as a mechanism maintaining a sense of community among South Koreans and among North Korean defectors, who had lived for a long time in different systems. Due to inter-Korea tensions, and differing experience and habits formed under the different systems of capitalism and socialism, a large gap between the two groups was found in the area of day to day awareness and values. Differences were most pronounced in views on marriage and career. First of all, South Koreans were more negative toward marriage with a North Korean defector than with a Korean of another country whereas the defectors were more negative toward marriage with an overseas Korean and positive toward marriage with a South Korean. Secondly, for South Koreans, the higher the income, the stronger the pride they had over their jobs. However, for North Korean, those with lower income tended to be more proud of their jobs. South Koreans preferred becoming civil servants and professionals. North Korean defectors also added to the list, workers, as a job that made them proud. Thirdly, in choosing their jobs, South Koreans felt the thoughts and advice of their parents to be important while North Korean defectors were more reliant on state policy. The results of this study gives us important insight into how we can promote cultural integration of South Koreans and North Korean defectors. First of all, the negative perspective South Koreans have of North Korean defectors has to be fundamentally revisited. It is essential that the prejudice of equating ordinary North Koreans with the government be overcome and that North Korean defectors be seen with a sense of national solidarity. Secondly, South Koreans and North Koreans defectors need to share the advantages of individualism and collectivism that the two sides had acquired as a result of living under different systems, and be able to use those advantages as a driver of social development. Third, cultural integration between South Koreans and North Korean defectors must be a process of attaining diversity in national everyday customs while respecting the customs of the other, and also of heading toward further expanding and developing national everyday customs.

When relations improve between North and South Korea, there will be demand for North Korean edible plants because of the low labor cost and similar environmental conditions. However, there is no reliable information about trace elements, metals, and metalloids in edible plants from North Korea. Selenium (Se) and germanium (Ge) have positive effects on basic human health and are therapeutical in diverse illnesses. Metal and metalloid (Cd, Pb) poisoning, on the other hand, can cause many health problems. Plants collected from North Korea had higher selenium content than those from South Korea. Although none of the collected species exceeded the permissible levels of cadmium and lead, their content in plants was significantly higher in North Korea than in South Korea. The high metal contents in plants collected from North Korea may be associated with the soil physicochemical properties as well as the accumulated amounts of elements in the soil.