South Korea joined the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees in 1992 and became the first country in East Asia to enact its own refugee law in 2012.[1] According to the Ministry of Justice in South Korea, there has been 12,208 asylum applicants since 1992 and it accepted 522 (4.2% of the total applicants) as refugees.[2] The UNHCR categorized 44 industrialized countries in the world as refugees receiving countries.[citation needed] South Korea is one of the receiving countries in Asia-Pacific including Japan. The number of asylum applications in 2013 has increased by 85%; however, according to the Ministry of Justice in South Korea, the acceptance rate of refugees is 7.3% at the end of 2014.[3] UNHCR said among the Parties relating to the Status of Refugees, 38% of asylum seekers were accepted as refugees, which is Korea's acceptance is much lower than international standards.[4] The top nationality of asylum seekers in Korea is Pakistan (2,017) since 1994. The top three nationalities of people accepted as a refugee are Myanmar (154), Bangladesh (84), and Ethiopia (73). Refugees in Myanmar were accepted as a refugee because of political reasons but the number of refugees has decreased as the political situation in Myanmar has improved.[5]
The process of asylum applicants is very complicated in South Korea. Asylum seekers in South Korea are not allowed to get a job for the first 6 months, which prevent illegal stay for getting a job. They are not in the public health insurance system, as well. The Korean government supports living expenses to asylum seekers, but for only 7% of them because of a lack of budget. It takes over a year to be categorised as a refugee.[5] The asylum seekers have to be permitted to extend their residence for every 6 months, a year for people who are staying under humanitarian grounds.[6] However, it is hard to be performed precisely because there is not enough human resources for status determination.[7]
In 2018, 500 refugees fleeing the civil war in Yemen came to Jeju Island, causing unease among some of the residents of Jeju Island.[8][9][10][11][12][13] Among many activist groups and celebrities, Jung Woo-sung raised attention to the situation of the refugees and reaffirmed his support to them.[14][15]
^"South Korea: New Beacon for Refugees". Yaleglobal Online. 2013-09-12.
^""한국은 난민에게 인색한 나라?"…난민제도에 대한 오해와 진실(Misunderstanding and truth towards Refugees policies in South Korea)". 아시아투데이(Asiatoday). 2015-10-14.
^"유럽의 시리아 난민 사태, 먼 나라 이야기일까(European Refugees crisis, there is no connection to Korea?)". 브레인미디어(Brainmedia). 2015-09-07.
^"난민 신청 5년새 10배 늘었는데…인정률은 고작 0.9%(Asylum seekers has been increased to 10 times, the acceptance is only 0.9%)". 한국경제(Hankyung. 2015-09-08.
^ ab"난민 신청 100명 중 인정 5명도 안 돼, 문턱 높은 한국(less than 5% of acceptance rate as a refugee)". 평화신문. 2015-10-11.
^"지중해 난민선처럼… 아무도 구하려 하지 않는 한국의 난민들 (There is no safety on Refugees in South Korea)". Hankook Ilbo(Hankook ilbo). 2015-05-06.
^"S 테러 공포 확산, 한국 난민 정책에 대한 의견 분분(Controversy on Refugee policy in South Korea)". 아시아투데이(Asia Today). 2015-11-23.
^Murphy, Brian (22 June 2018). "How hundreds of Yemenis fleeing the world's worst humanitarian crisis ended up on a resort island in South Korea". The Washington Post. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
^"South Koreans outraged as 500 Yemeni refugees flee to island". Financial Times. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
^"Yemeni refugees' fate tested on Jeju Island". Korea Times. 17 June 2018. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
^"South Korea to tighten laws amid influx of Yemeni asylum-seekers to resort island of Jeju". Straits Times. 29 June 2018. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
^"Justice Ministry proposes reinforcement measures to amend refugee act". The Korea Herald. 29 June 2018. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
^"제주 온 예멘인 500여 명 난민 신청..엇갈리는 시선". 다음 뉴스 (in Korean). 2018-06-19. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
^"[JEJU FORUM] Actor brings attention to refugees' plight". Korea JoongAng Daily. 2018-06-25. Retrieved 2018-11-15.
^Dong Sun-hwa (2018-10-22). "Actor Jung Woo-sung reaffirms support for refugees". The Korea Times. Retrieved 2018-11-15.
and 27 Related for: Refugees in South Korea information
SouthKorea joined the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugeesin 1992 and became the first country in East Asia to enact its own refugee law in...
SouthKorea – SouthKorea has refused to offer any resettlement places to refugees. The number of Syrian refugees who have applied for asylum in South...
rights enjoyed by their SouthKorean counterparts. The process used to determine refugees status is designed "not to protect refugees but to keep them out...
official and unofficial, refer to North Korean refugees. One such term inSouthKorea is "northern refugees" (탈북자; talbukja; t'albukcha or 탈북민; talbungmin;...
the island under refugee status determination, which led to controversy inSouthKorea. The number of refugees fleeing the civil war in Yemen and seeking...
Minorities inSouthKorea have grown since the mid-20th century. SouthKorea remains one of the world's most ethnically homogeneous nations, i.e. those...
SouthKoreansin terms of identity, more than citizenship. In June 2012, SouthKorea's population reached 50 million, and by the end of 2016, South Korea's...
such as refugees and migrants. According to the Freedom in the World index, SouthKorea is considered to have a high human rights record in the category...
SouthKorean nationality law (Korean: 국적법) details the conditions in which an individual is a national of the Republic of Korea (ROK), commonly known...
The Korean War was fought between North Korea and SouthKorea from 1950 to 1953. It began on 25 June 1950 when North Korea invaded SouthKorea and ceased...
of refugees from North Korea (estimated at 400,000) and returnees from abroad caused further turmoil. The short-lived People's Republic of Korea had...
massacre (Korean: 노근리 양민 학살 사건) was a mass killing of SouthKoreanrefugees by U.S. military air and ground fire near the village of Nogeun-ri (노근리) in central...
others': language ideologies and identity construction among North KoreanrefugeesinSouthKorea". Language Awareness. 31 (3): 271–287. doi:10.1080/09658416...
Seoul, South Korea. The organization rescues refugees hiding in China and resettles them inSouthKorea or the United States, so that they can avoid being...
between refugees and these NGOs, the punishments for these refugees are torture and execution upon their repatriation back to North Korea. In May 2016...
Korea (Korean: 한국, romanized: Hanguk inSouthKorea or 조선, Chosŏn in North Korea) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided...
Seoul Special City, is the capital of the Republic of Korea (ROK), commonly known as SouthKorea, and the country's most extensive urban center. The broader...
government claimed sovereignty over the whole Korean peninsula. On 25 June 1950, North Korea invaded SouthKoreain an attempt to re-unify the peninsula under...
of Korean Americans trace their ancestry to SouthKorea. The term Korean Americans (also rendered as Korean-Americans) usually encompasses citizens of...
Korea and SouthKorea. The population of Koreansin the United Kingdom is hard to assess. According to SouthKorea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2019...
SouthKorean activists pushed for the issuing of more F-4 work visas (normally for ethnic Korean returnees) for the refugees. Schools for refugee children...
The history of SouthKorea begins with the Japanese surrender on 2 September 1945. At that time, SouthKorea and North Korea were divided, despite being...
migrated into Korea during Goryeo. Goryeo era Korea accepted Lý dynasty of Vietnam as royal refugees. The Lý familial origins were from south China. Fujian...
Global Information