I find it interesting that at a smaller level South Korea is going through the same refugee issue that the United States is:
Supporters, right, of Yemeni asylum seekers in Korea stage a rally in front of Sejongno Police Box in central Seoul, Saturday, urging the government to allow the refugees to stay, while protesters, left, in Gwanghwamun Plaza call for the law to be changed to block “fake asylum seekers.” Yonhap
Two rallies with clashing views on refugees were held over the weekend, in the latest development in the ongoing controversy concerning Yemeni asylum seekers, an increasing number of whom came to Jeju Island over the past few months to escape the ongoing civil war that began in 2015.
Hundreds of protesters varying in age from teenagers to over 50 gathered at Gwanghwamun in central Seoul, demanding the government abolish a visa waiver program under which foreigners can stay for up to 30 days being given a visa on entry. Nationals from all but 11 countries suspected of being sponsors of terrorism are eligible for the program implemented in 2002 to promote the economy and attract foreign spending on the resort island.
Protesters chanted slogans including “Korean people’s safety first,” “We want safety,” “Abolish no-visa policy” and “Who is this country for?”
The seemingly harsh sentiment was met by a more compassionate group nearby, where about same number of rally participants demanded Korea be more embracing towards the displaced. “Protests organized by anti-asylum seekers claim they want safety all the while fanning hatred and bigotry,” the group said. “If they really want safety, they should remain open to foreigners, rather than forcing them to take 3D jobs ― labor-intensive work characterized as dirty, difficult and dangerous ― helping them achieve goals and encouraging them to contribute to Korean society.” [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but what makes this issue different than from the US is that there is not a political party in South Korea that gains potential voters by allowing in people claiming to be refugees. The political implications is why this issue is burning so hot right now in the US before the mid-term elections.
This is why South Korea dreads a collapse of the Kim regime:
Sammy Hyun is now a US citizen and has lived in the US since 2007 – and he considers himself to be ‘lucky’. Photograph: Noah Smith for the Guardian
When Chang Ho Kim was living in North Korea, information trickled in from China about the world outside the closed country. Through the lens of pirated movies, he says, America had looked to Kim like “a very rich and luxurious place”.
Defectors from the North automatically become South Korean citizens after a mandatory three-month transition that is part debriefing, part re-education. Most North Korean defectors in the South stand out, and the Kims were no exception. They have distinct accents, and are often shorter and slighter with darker, sallow skin from years of malnutrition. It’s hard to avoid South Koreans’ prejudice and suspicions that North Koreans are spies.
Remembering the Hollywood images of the US, the Kims decided to make their way to the US illegally through a broker.
But for the Kims, and others like them, life in the US is not necessarily easier.
The American celluloid dream comes with skyrocketing price tags. North Koreans arrive with little or no experience of bills, rent, and no means to cope with the lack of social services and health insurance that illegal immigrants must navigate.
“American life is so hard. Money, money, money,” said Pastor Young Gu Kim, an evangelical South Korean immigrant who helps defectors. “Some defectors told me, ‘Oh pastor, sometimes I miss it over there.’”
Like Chang Ho Kim, many North Koreans enter illegally and settle in Los Angeles, amid the large population of ethnic Koreans. Nearly 200 former North Koreans live in Los Angeles, advocacy groups say, but exact numbers are unknown. [The Guardian]
You can read more at the link, but North Koreans are not socialized to live in a western society that largely demands individual initiative to work hard and make money to support ones self. Imagine if millions of North Koreans showed up in South Korea instead of the small trickle that currently exists if the regime was to collapse. The social problems this would cause would be enormous and thus why the ROK government is pushing a policy of gradual reunification instead of regime collapse.
The Korea Times has the details on how Jeju Island became a haven for Yemeni refugees:
Jeju islanders were thrilled to hear the news in December that the budget airline Air Asia had just begun operating direct flights between the island and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, four times a week.
Airfare for return trips is just $200 to $300, depending on dates. To promote the nonstop flights, Air Asia began one-year hot deals for selected passengers where they could travel back and forth if they pay only 79,000 won ($70).
Besides the cheaper airfare, the shortened travel time is another plus; Jeju residents no longer need to transfer at Incheon International Airport to go to Malaysia.
The local government was excited as well in hopes that Jeju would attract more tourists from Southeast Asian countries amid a sudden decrease of Chinese tourists because of the fallout from the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) deployment. The local economy would benefit with an increase of foreign tourists.
Months later, such sweeping optimism has turned into worries.
The scenic southern island, which has long been a hot tourist destination for Koreans as well as foreigners, has experienced a rapid surge of unexpected visitors _ Yemeni refugees.
As of June 21, 486 Yemenis, who escaped from their war-torn country in search of hope and a better life, are staying on the island, seeking asylum. [Korea Times]
You can read the rest at the link, but what the Korean government has done in response is removed Yemen from the visa waiver list to stop the refugees from coming.
Are people really surprised that the refugee problem is growing when laws are created that make it easier for the applicants to stay longer?:
Asylum seekers stand in line for medical help from the Korean Red Cross on Jeju Island, Monday. Korea Times
Fears about refugees are spreading quickly across Korea after news that the number of asylum seekers on Jeju Island has soared.
More than 250,000 Koreans have signed a petition against the Jeju Provincial Government’s (JPG) refugee-friendly policy that allows foreigners to stay for several months without a visa and, in the meantime, helps them find jobs.
“I call on the government to put Koreans’ safety and other important issues first,” the person who posted the petition on the Cheong Wa Dae website wrote. “I’m doubtful whether they really are refugees. Think about it. Why would they come all the way here to seek asylum?”
“If we continue to allow them, what is happening in Europe today could become our future,” another petitioner wrote.
Judging by comments from news articles and social media, the dominant voice here doesn’t support the visa-waiver policy, which many locals think draws more refugees there.
According to the Jeju Immigration Office Tuesday, more than 940 foreigners have applied for legal refugee status so far this year, compared with 312 for the whole of last year.
Yemenis, whose country has been devastated by a civil war, account for about 54.7 percent, followed by Chinese (30.9 percent).
Many asylum seekers choose Korea’s southernmost island because the JPG allows them to stay there up to a month without a visa. If they apply for legal refugee status, they can earn an additional few months until the end of the screening process. If they bring the case to the court, it could be years. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but if so many Yeminis are fleeing the country than why aren’t more Sunni Arab countries taking in refugees instead of South Korea where they don’t speak language and have a different culture?
I wonder how much effort the Moon administration is putting into stopping these phone calls from Kim regime operatives to North Korean defectors?:
As North Korea makes increasingly aggressive calls for the return of a group of restaurant workers in China who defected en masse to South Korea in 2016, it has come to light that the regime is also making efforts to persuade other defectors in South Korea to return to the North.
“Anti-espionage agents from the provincial Ministry of State Security offices are calling up defectors in South Korea in an effort to get them to return to the country,” said a Ryanggang Province-based source to Daily NK on May 23.
“The agents tell the defectors point-blank that they will be met by agents in China and even give them telephone numbers to call once the defectors arrive in China. They are trying to bring them back to the country.”
A “Lieutenant Colonel Choe” of the Ryanggang Province Ministry of State Security (MSS) Anti-Espionage Unit is calling defectors living in South Korea on a frequent basis, according to the source. The agent tells defectors that “they will not be asked about their past history and will be guaranteed the same position they had when they left the country.” He also tells them that they should “[…] relax and return home. The motherland will always accept you if you decide to come back.”
The Ryanggang Province source provided details about how MSS agents are conducting calls with the defectors in South Korea. When a defector reaches out to brokers in North Korea to send money back to their family, sometimes these brokers are arrested by the MSS.
The MSS becomes aware of defectors the brokers have had contact with during the interrogation process and collects information such as their phone numbers. The MSS agents then directly contact the defectors to threaten or entice them to return to North Korea. A defector who was contacted by MSS agents recalled that, “[The agents] were really persistent in sending text messages and making phone calls.” [The Daily NK]
South Korea's Unification Minister confirms what we already knew — that the Ningpo 13 came to SK of their own free will. Now let the SK government do its duty to protect their privacy & safety. 조명균 ˝탈북 여종업원, 자유의사로 한국 왔다˝ https://t.co/L1As6VMm92
Considering the current attitude towards defectors that the current South Korean government has it will be interesting to see what their response to this is:
Two North Koreans defected to South Korea early on Saturday and were found in the Yellow Sea, Seoul-based news agency Yonhap reported, citing a government source.
Yonhap said that South Korean military spotted two people in a boat near the inter-Korean sea border, one of whom was a military officer, and they showed willingness to defect to the South.
South Korea’s unification ministry was not immediately available for comment.
The defection came after North Korea declined to accept a list of South Korean journalists hoping to observe the closure of its nuclear test site on Friday, raising new questions about the North’s commitment to reducing tensions in the region. [Business Insider]
Considering that JTBC was the lead network used to take out former President Park Geun-hye by finding the highly suspicious tablet computer, I would not be surprised at all if they are now trying to create a narrative that these defectors were kidnapped:
North Korean staff who fled a North Korean restaurant in China pose for a photo in this screen grab from CNN on May 12, 2016
The shift in the ministry’s attitude has made other defectors nervous. One woman who came to South Korea in 2008 and is raising a son here said, “I haven’t slept more than an hour a night since the inter-Korean summit. People like me who have been living quietly could be dragged off to North Korea any moment.”
Some 31,500 North Korean defectors live in South Korea, and many are feeling unsure of their status amid the thaw. They have been seen as having the potential to build bridges between the two sides if the two Koreas reunify but could now find themselves treated as obstacles to the smooth running of the political machine.
They are complaining about the South Korean government’s indifference and ostracism by other South Koreans. To them, it would be a devastating signal if some of the restaurant staff are sent back to the North. (……………)
Meanwhile, the women who appeared in the JTBC report are living in fear, scared that their identities and whereabouts may be exposed. They have claimed that their comments were taken out of context in the JTBC report.
Civic groups supporting North Korean defectors also said their comments were not portrayed accurately. They simply said they miss their homes and wish to see their parents, but the report made it sound as if they were forced to come to South Korea against their will.
Kim Byung-Jo at the Korea National Defense University said, “North Korean defectors really know the good and bad points of both Koreas. It is important for the government to ensure that they do not feel nervous.” [Chosun Ilbo]
