There has been an influx of North Korean refugees defecting to South Korea to seek freedom and better economic, educational, and professional opportunities. Thus, an increasing number of North Korean students are entering university in South Korea. Previous studies that examined North Korean students’ adaptation to South Korean universities have focused on their difficulty with English language learning. However, little scholarly attention has been paid to other challenges they encounter in their courses, particularly how they cope with linguistic marginalization and insecurity, which can directly affect their daily academic engagement and social interaction. In this presentation, Mi Yung Park will highlight what strategies North Korean students use to negotiate and reposition their identity when they are discriminated against as linguistic and cultural Other, and their identity as Korean is delegitimized. Mi Yung will end by discussing implications for educational policy and practice in South Korean higher education as a crucial space and context for refugee students’ identity (re)construction, and the support they need to integrate and participate more fully in academic communities.