The paper looks into changes in income level and contributing factors for changes among North Korean refugees whose stay in South Korea is longer than 7 years. The three survey studies conducted in a 7-year-period with 200 North Korean refugees included questions on actual income, occupation, demographic information, physical health status, and educational experience in South Korea. For this presentation, survey results on 106 North Korean defectors who participated in both studies were analyzed. The result showed that overall average monthly income for North Korean refugees increased, full-time employment and small business ownership have slightly increased, men’s income and changes in occupation were higher and frequent than women’s. Those who had earned a college degree from North Korea refugees showed much higher average monthly income level in 2007 than that of 2004. Initially the health status did not influence income level, but as time passed, healthy individuals reported higher income level. Interestingly, educational experiences from South Korea did not influence their economic status