4 Angles Ep5

A Sudanese man who fled to Korea to avoid conscription in the civil war has finally been granted the right to apply for refugee status 14 months since his arrival. The conscientious objector had applied for refugee status upon arriving in Incheon in November 2013 but was ordered to be deported without his case being filed for evaluation. He then spent 5 months living in the airport immigration office while his appeal was taken to court until he was finally granted the right to have his application evaluated. Currently, the rate of recognition of refugee status in Korea is only at 5%, which is much lower than the average among member states of the Refugee Convention. Still, Korea was the first country in Asia to implement a Refugee Act and is currently working to enhance support for refugees by establishing an Immigration Support Center (Refugee Support Center). There had been about 3,000 applications for refugee status in Korea last year, showing a steady increase over the years. Today, we take a closer look at the current state of refugee policies in Korea.