SEOUL, Jul. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — The Ministry of Justice revealed yesterday that six additional immigration officers were posted to the Immigration and Naturalization Service on Jeju Island in charge of refugee procedures in order to speed up processing for Yemeni nationals who have applied for refugee status. With the new staff, the total number [...]
SEOUL, Jun. 29 (Korea Bizwire) — The Justice Ministry said Friday it will seek to revise the Refugee Act to prevent fake asylum seekers from abusing the system and take steps to handle refugee applications much more quickly to screen out bogus claimants. The measures came amid growing anti-refugee sentiment in South Korea sparked by [...]
JEJU, Jun, 28 (Korea Bizwire) — Yemeni refugees who are currently staying on Jeju Island have helped local residents find their wallets on a few occasions. According to the Jeju Dongbu Police Station’s Ora Patrol Division, Yemeni refugees have visited the police branch to turn in lost items that they had recovered on four different [...]
SEOUL, Jun. 28 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea is not the best place for asylum seekers, with only about four out of every 100 applicants having won refugee status so far since 1994, and it lags far behind many European countries in terms of medical, job, and other social benefits offered to such migrants fleeing [...]
SEOUL, Jun. 21 (Korea Bizwire) — As an increasing number of residents of Jeju Island have voiced concerns regarding their safety and the possible costs associated with the recent influx of Yemeni refugees coming to the island by taking advantage of a visa-free policy, the government has set out to actively relieve the buildup of [...]
SEOUL, Jun. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — As controversy surrounding Yemeni refugees in Jeju Island brews, over 200,000 people have petitioned against the refugees on the presidential Blue House’s website. The initial petition titled “Petition Against the Approval of Refugees” gained the consensus of 208,096 people as of yesterday morning. The central government is required to [...]
SEOUL, April 27 (Korea Bizwire) – Refugees with disabilities are entitled to the same social security benefits as Korean nationals, South Korea’s human rights watchdog said Wednesday. The National Human Rights Commission of Korea said that it has asked the minister of health and welfare to revise the Welfare of Disabled Persons Act and related guidelines to ensure disabled refugees living in South Korea are treated equally [...]
SEOUL, April 18 (Korea Bizwire) – South Koreans voiced criticism over Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s recent remarks on dealing with possible refugees amid escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula, comments on social media showed Tuesday. During a parliamentary session Monday, Abe said Japan is working on contingency plans for a possible influx of refugees [...]
SEOUL, July 19 (Korea Bizwire) – Seoul Administrative Court in Yangjae-dong, Seoul opened on July 19 a legal support center for interpretation and translation services due to an increasing number of cases related to foreign refugees. The number of refugee cases more than doubled from 400 cases in 2014 to 1,000 cases last year, and is [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 23 (Korea Bizwire) - A total of 22 refugees from Myanmar arrived in South Korea, officials said Wednesday, becoming the first beneficiaries of Seoul’s new resettlement program for refugees. The refugees, four different families, had been staying at refugee camps in Thailand to avoid suppression in Myanmar before being allowed to fly to South [...]