Korea's record on refugees

By Andrew Wolman

June 20 is World Refugee Day, a day set aside by the U.N. General Assembly to remember some of the least fortunate among us, those men and women who have been forced to leave their home country to escape persecution, war, famine and other miseries.

Of course, in much of the world there is no need for a reminder. The past few years have seen massive refugee flows as people flee war and atrocities in Syria, Yemen and Iraq, violence and persecution in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Burma and Nigeria, and grinding poverty and oppression elsewhere. Oftentimes, refugees are only faced with more hardships after they leave home, and this suffering has unfortunately become a constant feature of contemporary life, in the camps of Kenya, the back alleys of Turkey, and the flimsy dinghies that traverse the Mediterranean.

Korea, however, has so far remained reluctant to play a leading role in the protection of refugees. From the time that it first started receiving refugee applicants in 1994 until March 2016, Korea has only recognized 588 refugees, while receiving 16,979 applications during the same period, a very low rate by global standards. Korea also granted humanitarian visas to 927 applicants during this same period, allowing the applicants to stay in the country on an annually renewable basis, albeit with lesser rights than recognized refugees. While there was some hope that the entry into force of a new Refugee Act in 2013 would increase the country's refugee recognition rate, so far that does not seem to be the case. On the contrary, although the number of refugee applicants has gone up each year, the refugee recognition rate has decreased significantly. Even the procedural safeguards of the new act seem to be flouted by the government's decision to detain dozens of asylum seekers in overcrowded rooms at Incheon Airport, sometimes for a period of several months at a time.

While Korea has not been willing to accept significant numbers of refugees to date, there are glimmers of a more welcoming attitude. For the first time, Korea resettled refugees from outside the country in December 2015, accepting 22 Burmese refugees from a camp in Thailand. This was a milestone, and one of the first examples of an Asian country accepting resettled refugees. Of course, 22 individuals is just a drop in the bucket, considering global resettlement needs, which are estimated by UNHCR to exceed 1.19 million persons in 2017.

How, then, can Korea's refugee record be improved over the next year? Let me suggest four reasonable ways. First, the government should ensure that no asylum seeker stays more than 24 hours at the airport before being allowed into the country to apply for asylum while living in humane conditions. Long-term airport detention violates human rights norms and has been repudiated as an immigration control device throughout the developed world. There is no excuse for its use in Korea.

Second, Korea's resettlement program should be ramped up to welcome a far greater number of people. Now that the legal and institutional infrastructure is in place, Korea can play a far greater role in helping those in need, and in turn the Korean economy can benefit from the skills of those it brings in. Refugees should be considered for resettlement from the camps surrounding Syria, where the needs are greatest, rather than focusing solely on refugees in Thailand.

Third, the government should improve the rights and treatment of humanitarian status holders. While current regulations tend to focus on Korea's treatment of refugees, the fact is that most deserving individuals are given humanitarian rather than refugee status. This includes almost all Syrian asylum seekers. Yet humanitarian status holders have weaker rights to housing, health care and welfare, and find it more difficult to access the labor market. Given that many humanitarian visa holders actually are refugees, they should be treated equally to refugees by the Korean government.

And fourth, the Korean government and judiciary must change their perspectives when evaluating cases. Rather than seeking any possible excuse to keep people out of the country, they should acknowledge a duty to provide refugee status whenever there is a reasonable chance that the applicant would face persecution in his or her home country. Refugees seldom arrive with precise documentary evidence attesting to their persecution, but that does not lessen the duty to provide protection.

Some would argue that Korea has no duty to take refugees. This would be wrong, both legally and ethically. Korea is a party to the Refugee Convention, and all countries should welcome those in need. Korea's government should heed the words of Ban Ki-Moon, who stated that "on this World Refugee Day, let us recall our common humanity, celebrate tolerance and diversity and open our hearts to refugees everywhere."

Andrew Wolman is an associate professor at the Graduate School of International and Area Studies at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, where he teaches international migration law and international human rights law. Write to amw247@yahoo.com.