South Korea acceded to the Refugee Convention and the Refugee Protocol on December 3, 1992, and assumed its obligation to protect refugees under the Convention, and established a refugee determination system in the Immigration Control Act and began operating a refugee determination system on July 1, 1994. However, civil society and the International Organizations continued to point out that the human rights of refugees could not be properly guaranteed within the Immigration Control Act, which aims to manage borders and the stay of foreigners, and the Refugee Act was enacted as an independent human rights law on February 10, 2012, after long preparations. However, the Refugee Act went through compromise and negotiation during the enactment process, and contrary to initial expectations, many of the issues that were pointed out as problems at the time have been largely realized since its implementation.
First, despite the introduction of the refugee recognition procedure at the port of entry, which aims to ensure a wide range of opportunities for asylum seekers to apply for refugee recognition, the percentage of asylum seekers who are referred to the substantive examination at the port of entry has been too low. In addition, asylum seekers who have been denied asylum remain at the port of entry for a long period of time when they file an administrative lawsuit, which is their only remedy, there have been ongoing concerns about their poor treatment. Second, despite the enactment of the Refugee Act, which provides relatively detailed regulations on the refugee recognition process, there are still insufficient procedural guarantees for the refugee examination process, and the infrastructure and capacity of the refugee determination system are inadequate. This leads to a backlog of cases and a low refugee recognition rate. In addition, in the process of excessively restricting refugee applications in the name of 'preventing misuse of the refugee system', serious human rights violations have continued to occur, including cases of manipulation of refugee interviews and deprivation of status for certain refugee applicants. Third, asylum seekers have been staying in South Korea for a long time due to the backlog of refugee cases, but their survival have been threatened. There is no policy to support the resettlement of refugees even after they are recognized, and humanitarian residents need social security similar to that of refugees, but there are only regulations on work permits, so it is urgent to overhaul the legal system.
In the 10 years since the Refugee Act was enacted, many asylum seekers in South Korea have been repatriated without a chance to access to refugee determination system, have experienced human rights violations during the process, and have had to endure poor treatment. Problems with the asylum application system at ports of entry, the refugee determination system, and the treatment of asylum seekers still exist, and legislative and policy improvements are needed. Nevertheless, since 2018, there have been a number of amendments to the Refugee Act that severely restrict the rights of asylum seekers and others, and on December 17, 2021, the Ministry of Justice proposed a bill to the National Assembly to amend the Refugee Act, which centers on the introduction of the 'Ineligibility for refugee determination system to refugee reapplication', which has been criticized as a step backwards in terms of ensuring a fair and full refugee review opportunity. We hope that the Refugee Act, as Korea's human rights law, will continue to move forward to better ensure the value of refugee human rights without undermining them.
Kim Yeonju