South Korea - The Korea Times

Muslim, Arabs denied refugee status through 'rigged' interviews

Asylum seekers in Korea and their translators attend a NANCEN-organized press conference at the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, Tuesday, to disclose the immigration office's systematic falsification of refugee testimonies of Arab and Muslim applicants. YonhapBy Lee Suh-yoonMohamad Sabry came to Korea in July 2016 to seek asylum. In his refugee interview, Sabry told the immigration officer he faced political persecution in Egypt for being an active member of the Muslim Brotherhood. The official didn't write this down.“My interview was totally fabricated as they wrote that I had said like this in the interview: I confessed what I wrote in the application was false and I came to Korea to work as I had no job in Egypt,” Sabry told reporters at a press conference organized by NANCEN, a refugee support group, at the National Human Rights Commission of Korea office in Seoul, Tuesday.Sabry is one of the victims of a deliberately rigged interview process against Muslim and Arab asylum seekers by multiple immigration officers under the Ministry of Justice here. In Tuesda

Jun 19, 2019

Muslim, Arabs denied refugee status through 'rigged' interviews

Cityscapes Graffiti's rise on Korea's streets, walls, trains

Crude graffiti is drawn to insult someone in an urban renewal zone in Suwon in February 2015. By Ron BandunWith the recent case of Hideyes, who defaced a chunk of the original Berlin Wall on display in Seoul, graffiti has made mainstream headlines here. It may be hard to believe now, but that particular culture of spray paint and tagging is a relatively new phenomenon in Korea. Sure you could find restaurants where customers were encouraged to write on the walls, but street art graffiti was rare ― even in Hongdae, where today nearly every surface now is as tagged up as a toilet stall. Just like the Berlin Wall, graffiti entered Korea from outside, brought in by foreigners coming here to work and Koreans who spent time abroad. Another thing that arrived the same way was urban exploration, which is more my thing. The two have similarities in locations, philosophy and technique, but then there is a sharp dropoff. Urban explorers eschew all forms of property damage, whi

Jun 18, 2019By Jon Dunbar

[Cityscapes] Graffiti's rise on Korea's streets, walls, trains

South Africans host braai party in Nanji Campground

Meat is cooked at a Nanji Braai in 2018. Courtesy of SAKorNet By Jon DunbarThe South Africans in Korea Network (SAKorNet) is hosting its biannual Nanji Braai event this Saturday at Nanji Campground in western Seoul. “Every single South African loves to braai or Chisa Nyama. It is not seen as belonging to any particular demographic at all,” Chantal Terblanche, chairperson of the SAKorNet committee, told The Korea Times. Braai is basically Afrikaans for barbecue, but a braai, or Chisa Nyama in Zulu, has so much more meaning to South Africans that isn't immediately apparent to outsiders. A braai is a grand social event, but one that is still casual and laid-back, welcoming friends and family to a picnic spot or home. It is a potluck with people bringing their own meats and side dishes for the meal. “A braai is that moment when differences are set aside in the quest for the perfect fire, the perfect pap, the perfect chop and most importantly, the perfect wors,” Leonie,

Jun 18, 2019By Jon Dunbar

Korea badly needs officials to handle increasing asylum seekers

Asylum seekers participate in a rally organized by Amnesty and NANCEN in front of Bosingak bell pavilion in central Seoul, last September, calling for better treatment and review processes. / Korea Times fileBy Lee Suh-yoonMore than 20,000 asylum seekers are waiting to hear back from the Korean Immigration Office, according to recent government data made public Sunday. The backlog is apparently due to chronic understaffing at the office resulting in insufficient officials to review the applications.Refugee rights group NANCEN and the immigration office said 21,341 refugees were waiting for the results of their asylum application at the end of April.Starting this year, the justice ministry doubled the number of staff to more effectively handle asylum applications but the workload is still far from realistic, with around 260 applications being assigned to each officer. Between January and April this year, 4,095 persons filed for asylum here, but immigration officers were only able to review just 1,238 applications during the same period. Thousands more are expected to submit their case

Jun 16, 2019

Korea badly needs officials to handle increasing asylum seekers

Seoul punk band Gumiho plays final shows with guitarist

Gumiho performs at Pet Sounds during HBC Fest on May 25. / Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar By Jon DunbarThree white guys started a punk band in Korea, and brought in a female singer with no music experience whatsoever, and they recorded a demo for 20,000 won in a practice space and a hotel room. You might not be reading about this in a newspaper, except the demo blew listeners away and led to the swift rise of Gumiho.It's a raw punk recording that sounds crystal clear perfect, and the vocals are charismatic and instantly iconic. It's hard to believe it was made in Korea.“We had been working on songs for a while and collectively trying to avoid having to assume vocal duties, when our departed guitarist messaged us out of the blue to tell us that he had a friend who is interested in having a go at singing,” Steve Gange, guitarist, told The Korea Times. “He did mention that she had no experience being in a band or being a singer. And with that, Caspin filled a very not

Jun 14, 2019By Jon Dunbar

'We will both die if my father fails to earn refugee status'

Iranian refugee Kim Min-hyuk, 16, holds a one-man demonstration in front of the Ministry of Justice at Gwacheon Government Complex in Gyeonggi Province, to call on the government to recognize his father as a refugee, Monday, a day prior to the father's interview for the refugee status. Korea Times photo by Kim Jae-heunBy Kim Jae-heunA 16-year-old Iranian refugee, who goes by the Korean name Kim Min-hyuk here, held a one-man relay demonstration ― taking turns with his friends ― in front of the Gwacheon Government Complex in Gyeonggi Province, where the Ministry of Justice is located, Monday, to call for the immigration authorities to also recognize his father as a refugee.Kim came to Korea in July 2010 when he was seven years old along with his father who was running his own business here.“I was very young then and I followed my friends to the church almost every week then,” Kim said during an interview with The Korea Times, Monday, after the demonstration. “I did not know anything about the religious beliefs in my home country and I told my aunt that I was going to

Jun 14, 2019By Kim Jae-heun

'We will both die if my father fails to earn refugee status'

Beach punk festival takes over Muui Island

The Beijing-based power-pop band The Sino Hearts will come to Korea for IT'S A FEST! this weekend. / Courtesy of The Sino Hearts By Jon DunbarKorea's punk scene is uprooting itself from various cities across the peninsula, and heading to Hanagae Beach on Muui Island, for the first-ever IT'S A FEST! (IAF!), a free two-day music festival for June 15 and 16. The festival is the latest imaginative project by World Domination, Inc. (WDI), a punk label run by Jeff and Trash Moses, who celebrated 10 years this year as a married couple and bandmates in their punk band …Whatever That Means.“Trash and I have been talking about doing something like this for years,” Jeff Moses told The Korea Times. “Every time we traveled somewhere new in Korea, we'd ask each other, would this be a good spot? Could we do a big outdoor show here? But there was always a problem. Trash and I actually got engaged at Hanagae Beach, so we thought it might work out there.”They returned during last yea

Jun 11, 2019By Jon Dunbar

Beach punk festival takes over Muui Island

Local punk band introduces big plans for 10th anniversary

Michael Simning award honors community building in Gwangju

A portrait of Michael Simning hangs over the bar at Speakeasy, Gwangju's oldest expat bar. / Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar By Jon DunbarCanadian expat Michael Simning gained a reputation for his oversized community spirit in Korea's southwestern city of Gwangju. Having first moved to Korea in 1995, Simning volunteered as a translator for the local police, organized volunteer teachers for Sungbin Orphanage, gave talks at the Gwangju International Center (GIC) and co-founded the city's first foreign-owned bar, Speakeasy, among other accomplishments, all in his spare time. Simning passed away in 2014 after a long fight with leukemia, but his spirit lives on in the community he helped build, as well as in the Michael Simning Community Builder Award.The award is given each year to an individual or individuals for contributing to the city through volunteering. Now in its fifth year, it is handed out in early June, shortly before Simning's birthday, in an awards ceremony

Jun 11, 2019By Jon Dunbar

Michael Simning award honors community building in Gwangju

Cambodian tops national three-cushion tournament again

Sruong Pheavy holds a plaque and prize money award after winning the 2019 KBF Super Cup Three Cushion Tournament at Seoul Olympic Parktel in Songpa District, June 8. Courtesy of Billking KoreaBy Ko Dong-hwanSruong Pheavy eyes cue balls during a final match of the 2019 KBF Super Cup Three Cushion Tournament at Seoul Olympic Parktel in Songpa District, June 8. Courtesy of Billking KoreaCambodian three-cushion player in Korea, Sruong Pheavy, won the women's section of the latest national three-cushion tournament, cementing her reputation as a marriage migrant-turned-carom specialist.She won the 2019 KBF Super Cup Three Cushion Tournament, hosted by the Korea Billiards Federation, at Seoul Olympic Parktel in the Songpa District. The championship match was played on June 8.Pheavy, 30, No.1 among female professionals in the country, was the only foreigner in the tournament. In this year's first KBF-hosted tournament, she beat sixth ranker Yong Hyun-ji 25-9 in 16 innings. She took home 4 million won ($3,400) prize money.Sponsored by Korean billiard custom cue brand Billking Korea, Pheavy la

Jun 10, 2019By Ko Dong-hwan

Cambodian tops national three-cushion tournament again

Schools for integration face cash problems

Foreign and non-Korean-speaking students sit a level test for the Korea Immigration and Integration Program, at Hope Village Community Center in Jangan-dong, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, May 17. Korea Times photo by Ko Dong-hwanBy Ko Dong-hwanJung Noh-wha, director of the Gunpo Migration and Multicultural Center ― where foreigners learn the Korean language and culture ― knows that the Ministry of Justice-sponsored education program is under a relentlessly tight budget.The school, in Gyeonggi Province, offered level 2 to 5 classes in the first semester from February to May that five outside instructors taught. Except for paying the teachers' salaries, the ministry has given the facility less than 150,000 won ($126) a month to cover maintenance and other costs such as utilities. Operated by the Korea Immigration and Integration Program (KIIP) for the past nine years, Jung refrained from finger-pointing at the government over the budget issue, saying “better management” could be a solution. But he said the school has been underfunded compared with a similar language program offered

Jun 6, 2019By Ko Dong-hwan

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