Recognizing the need to study the social adaptation of North Korean defectors in depth, this study aims to examine the trends of research on the social adaptation of North Korean defectors and present the direction of the research of a new perspective. The analysis of research trends focused on general trends, concepts of social adaptation, and variables affecting social adaptation of North Korean defectors. The main findings are as follows: First, the social adaptation of North Korean defectors was mainly dealt with in categories of sociocultural, psychological, and economic adaptation, and the study of economic adaptation was relatively rare due to the fact that social and cultural adaptation studies were conducted. Second, both quantitative and qualitative analysis methods were used in terms of research methods, but there were many studies that mainly focused on describing the actual conditions or presenting the current status. Third, there was a lack of research done by subdividing the characteristics of North Korean defectors in terms of research subjects. These factors were not properly considered, although the pattern of social adaptation and related factors of North Korean defectors could vary greatly depending on the period of residence in South Korean society. Based on these findings, this study suggested the need for in-depth research on economic adaptation, which may be a particularly important factor in South Korean social adaptation, and the need to approach the research subjects by subdividing them by period of residence in South Korean society in analyzing factors affecting such economic adaptation.