Refugees in South Korea
South Korea declined all Syrian asylum seekers' refuge except for two and granted them a humanitarian status instead. It does not allow them to apply for permanent residence or nationality. 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 refugees 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. There is no health insurance as well. Korean government support living expenses to asylum seekers, but for only 7% of them because of lack of budget. It takes over a year to be decided 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]
See also
References
- ^ "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.
- ^ a b "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)". 한국일보(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.
External links
- NANCEN, Human Right for Refugees center in South Korea
