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Yemeni asylum seekers at the Jeju Immigration Office
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Jeju Immigration Office completes 440 out of 484 interviews
Twenty-three Yemeni nationals who applied as a group for refugee status recognition on Jeju Island have been granted permission to stay on humanitarian grounds. The Jeju Immigration Office under director Kim Do-gyun announced on Sept. 13 that after completing interviews with 440 out of 484 Yemeni nationals on Jeju who are eligible for refugee status reviews, it had made the decision to grant humanitarian sojourn permissions to 23 individuals deemed to require protection on humanitarian grounds, including families with small children, pregnant women, minors, and people with injuries. Decisions on humanitarian sojourn permissions for the other applicants whose reviews have been completed are to be made sequentially. According to the office, a decision was made not to grant refugee status to the Yemenis receiving humanitarian sojourn permissions, as the refugee status applicants entered South Korea to escape the civil war or conscription by the Houthi insurgency in Yemen and do not represent one of the five bases of persecution stated in the Refugee Convention or Refugee Act (ethnicity, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, and political opinions). The office further explained that it had decided to permit humanitarian sojourns according to Article 2-3 of the Refugee Act based on its conclusion that the applicants could suffer conspicuous threats to their lives or personal freedoms if deported, in view of the severity of the Yemeni civil war and the uncertain sojourn conditions and threats of arrest and detention in additional countries they previously stayed in. Of the 23 individuals subject to the review decision, ten were minors under the age of 19. Seven had accompanying parents or a spouse, while three were minors who entered without a parent or other guardian. The individuals given a one-year sojourn limit, with sojourn permissions to be cancelled or denied further extensions if ongoing monitoring of the situation in Yemen shows enough improvement that they can safely return home. The individuals in the first review were subject to interviews and verification of the accuracy of their statements, background checks by relevant organizations on possible terrorism-related and other accusations, drug testing, and domestic and international criminal background checks, with no irregularities discovered in the process, the office said. Restrictions on their ability to leave Jeju Island are also to be lifted. The Jeju Immigration Office predicted its final review decisions will be complete by around October. Three Yemenis to date have cancelled their refugee status applications and returned to Yemen. “Decisions on whether to grant humanitarian sojourn permissions for the other applicants besides the 23 will be made in sequence,” office director Kim Do-gyun said. “They have finished only their interview process, and no decision has yet been made because other areas also have to be examined,” he explained. By Huh Ho-joon, staff reporter Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
