South Korea Denies Refugee Status to Hundreds of Fleeing Yemenis

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea on Wednesday refused to grant refugee status to hundreds of Yemenis who fled the catastrophic war in their home country, allowing them to stay here only on temporary humanitarian visas.

More than 500 Yemenis landed in Jeju, a tourist island off the southern coast of South Korea, in the first five months of this year, capitalizing on the island’s no-visa entry policy.

Taken aback by the sudden influx of asylum-seekers and a public outcry over their arrival, the central government withdrew the no-visa benefit for Yemenis in June. It also banned the Yemenis from leaving for mainland South Korea, stranding about 480 of them on the island while their applications for refugee status were reviewed.

After months of screening, the Justice Ministry on Wednesday decided against granting refugee status to any of the Yemenis.

It instead allowed 339 of them to stay in South Korea on one-year humanitarian visas (23 other Yemenis on Jeju had previously been granted such visas).

The authorities are still reviewing 85 other cases. Thirty-four Yemenis who were denied even humanitarian visas on Wednesday are entitled to challenge the decision in court.

The Yemenis granted humanitarian visas are allowed to leave Jeju for the mainland but must report their whereabouts to the local immigration authorities.

Their humanitarian visas, although annually renewable, limit the refugees’ ability to find work and bar them from many benefits open to recognized refugees, like health care and the opportunity to have family members join them.

Rights groups have vehemently denounced South Korea’s reluctance to embrace more refugees. They said the government granted only humanitarian visas to ensure that the asylum-seekers would eventually leave South Korea.

The government made that policy clear Wednesday.

“We allow them to stay for one year,” the Justice Ministry said. “But if the situation in Yemen improves enough for them to return home, we will revoke their permit to stay or will not extend it.”

The arrival of Yemenis set off a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment, leading to what is considered South Korea’s first organized anti-asylum movement. During recent rallies, anti-immigrant activists vilified the Yemenis as potential Arab terrorists, rapists or immigrants stealing jobs.

South Korea helps more than 1,000 refugees from North Korea resettle annually in the South and gives them subsidies. But South Koreans, who take pride in their “homogeneous” society, have been reluctant to accept non-Korean refugees.

Of 40,400 non-Koreans who have applied for refugee status since 1994, only 839, or 2 percent, have won it, according to government data. The U.N. Refugee Agency has called on the country to welcome more displaced people from around the world.