By Jung Min-ho
The number of asylum seekers in Korea exceeded 2,000 this year ― the most since the country started taking asylum claims in 1994.
According to the Ministry of Justice Friday, 2,176 applications were submitted from January to October, up from 1,574 last year.
Most were from Egypt with 416 people, Pakistan 285, China 208, Nigeria 170 and Syria 156.
It takes about a year to determine their status, the ministry noted.
“The number of asylum seekers has increased steadily over the past few years,” a ministry official said.
In July last year, Korea became the first Asian country to introduce its own refugee law, which details the process needed to apply for refugee status as well as the acceptance criteria. The law also stipulates what assistance is available, including translation services.
It remains to be seen whether the law will help more people to gain refugee status in Korea, whose asylum policies have long been considered one of the toughest among developed nations.
Last year, only 57 of 1,574 applicants were accepted. In 2012, 1,143 people applied for refugee status but only 60 gained it.
This year so far, 61 have been accepted and 491 were allowed to stay for “humanitarian reasons” without official status. Last year, only six people were allowed to stay without the status.
“Syria’s civil war has contributed to the increased number,” the official said. “Even though asylum seekers from civil wars cannot get the status in Korea, we allowed them to stay for humanitarian reasons.”
The ministry has a backlog of people waiting to be screened, with 1,917 cases waiting as of October.
“We need to deal with about 300 cases a month since the law took effect, but the number of officials in charge of them remains the same,” he said,” the official said.