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| Ludmila, left, says goodbye to her granddaughter Kristina, who, with her son Yaric, leaves the train station in Odessa, southern Ukraine, Tuesday. AP-Yonhap |
Foreign ministry has yet to decide whether to accept Ukrainian refugees
By Jung Da-min
A lawyers' group has called for the government to take prompt action in accepting Ukrainian refugees.
On Tuesday, the Korean Bar Association (KBA) issued a statement to express concerns over human rights violations occurring in the Eastern European region due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, while also calling for the Korean government actively to accept refugees from the area.
"Regarding the refugee situation (in Ukraine), the Korean government announced on Feb. 28 that Ukrainians in Korea would be granted stay extensions on humanitarian grounds so that they could leave after the local situation (in Ukraine) stabilizes. But considering the seriousness of the prolonged situation in Ukraine, such a measure is not enough. The Korean government should take further measures to accept refugees fleeing from Ukraine," read the statement.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not given any clear answers about its stance on the Ukrainian refugees.
A foreign ministry official told The Korea Times Wednesday that the Korean government has been committed to helping Ukrainians, referring to its earlier decision to take an additional measure of streamlined visa-issuance process for Ukrainians whose family members are staying in Korea.
"That was an exceptional measure taken for the war situation in Ukraine, as visa issuance in many countries has been temporarily suspended under the government's quarantine guidelines for the COVID-19 pandemic situation," the official said.
On March 8, the Ministry of Justice unveiled a streamlined visa-issuance process for ethnic Koreans in Ukraine, as well as Ukrainians with family members who reside in Korea.
According to the justice ministry, as of 2021 there were about 13,524 ethnic Koreans in Ukraine, and about 12,711 of them are of foreign nationality. About 2,390 Ukrainian nationals with Korean heritage were staying in Korea, while another 3,828 Ukrainians were staying in Korea under short- or long-term visas.
According to March 21 statistics by UNHCR or the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 3,557,245 Ukrainians had fled the country since Russia invaded on Feb. 24. When considering the millions of internally displaced people, expectations are that more than 10 million people ― over a quarter of the population in regions under government control ― are thought to have fled their homes in the Eastern European nation.
Most of those who have fled are women and children, as Ukrainian men aged 18 to 60 are subject to military conscription and are not permitted to leave.
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