Angelina Jolie urges Korea to protect Yemeni refugees
Angelina Jolie, third from left facing row, speaks during a meeting at the United Nations Refugee Agency's Seoul office in Jung-gu, Seoul, Nov. 4. Photos courtesy of UNHCR Korea
By Ko Dong-hwan
The United Nations Refugee Agency's Special Envoy Angelina Jolie, who visited Seoul last week, met with the justice minister and the organization's celebrity goodwill ambassador Sunday.
The top American actress and activist expressed concern about Yemenis who have fled their country in fear of a long-standing war there and a cholera epidemic. She urged the international community to embrace all displaced Yemeni people which now number over two million. Noting the 500 Yemenis who arrived on Jeju Island in May and sought asylum, she stressed Korea's global role in helping them.
“As an international community we have been shamefully slow to act to end the crisis in Yemen,” Jolie said at the UNHCR Korea's office in Jung-gu, Seoul. “We have watched the situation deteriorate to the point that Yemen is now on the brink of a man-made famine and facing the worst cholera epidemic in the world in decades. When conflict develops to this extent, many people have no choice but to flee if they are to have any chance of survival.”
She was joined by Justice Minister Park Sang-ki, who is in charges of the country's refugee policies, and actor Jung Woo-sung, who has been a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador in Korea since 2015.
Angelina Jolie talks with Korean Justice Minister Park Sang-ki at the UNHCR Korea's office, Nov. 4.
She said that “ending the conflicts themselves” was the only way to help refugees return home and reduce their numbers worldwide.
“I hope there can be greater understanding of the human realities causing people to flee, the strict legal criteria and process by which refugee status is determined by the UNHCR, working with national authorities, and our shared responsibility to assist refugees until they can return home,” said the special envoy.
Jolie came to Korea to promote the international organization's message that global support for refugees is vitally needed. Her Seoul visit follows that of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, Oct. 23 and 24.
Jolie, the mother of six children including three adoptees from Cambodia, Vietnam and Ethiopia, thanked the Korean government for helping the Yemenis on Jeju Island. On Oct. 17, the ministry that oversaw interviews of 484 Yemeni asylum seekers there said it has granted humanitarian stay to 362 of them.
Jolie and Jung Woo-sung, second from left, share their personal stories of working for the UNHCR at the agency's Korean office, Nov. 4.
The star, who separated from American actor Brad Pitt in 2016, also delivered UNHCR's wish “to work more closely with the Korean authorities on strengthening their asylum system.” She also expressed the organization's gratitude for South Korean citizens as some 230,000 individuals from the private sector have donated millions of dollars. She said it “demonstrated South Koreans' strong sense of solidarity with refugees and the UNHCR.”
Jolie, talking to Jung, expressed concerns about some part of the Korean public that had showed enmity toward the Yemenis in Jeju Island. Jung responded that such responses “stemmed largely from fake news” and noted that it was actually not the majority of the public that are against refugees.
Jung met the Yemenis in June when he visited the island to participate in the 2018 Jeju Forum as a speaker.
The two actors talked about different places they have visited and how amazing it was to meet UNHCR staff members on the field at one operation and meet them again at a different operation years later.
Jolie, who arrived in Korea with two of her adopted sons Maddox and Pax, Nov. 2, caused a stir among the Korean public after arriving at Yonsei University and tourism hotspots in Samcheong-dong and Insa-dong in Jongno-gu on Nov. 2 and 3 with her sons and without security guards around. She departed Nov. 4.