Changes in the digital media environment has expanded the conceptof media literacy. Media literacy is re-conceptualized as an essentiallife skill and a cultural competence for participation in society, anddiscussions on media use divide currently is being extended to coverthe concept of “participation divide.” People with a low level of medialiteracy and participation competence are more exposed to inequalitiesin their private and public lives. North Korean defectors are amongthose who belong to these underprivileged groups with greater risks ofinformational disadvantages. An intense study on this issue shows thatthey are experiencing various kinds of exclusion. The aim of study isto diagnose the participation divide of North Korean young, adult, andteenager defectors and propose educational interventions. To this end, a measuring tool from Jenkins’ participatory cultureand new media literacy is used in this study; three groups.NorthKorean young adult defectors, and North Korean teenager defectorsand South Korean young adults.are compared based on their digitalmedia literacy. According to the results, the three groups have homogeneouspattern in the time of their media use, but meaningful differencesin means across all other competencies, except “co-evolutionarycollaboration.” Even North Korean young adult defectors and NorthKorean teenager defectors have substantial inter-group differences. Age, education level, and/or cultural factors can play a role here, butthe participation divide seems to play the most substantial role. Basedon these results, this study proposes “media culture literacy education.”