South Korea denied refugee status Wednesday to hundreds of Yemeni asylum seekers who had fled their war-torn country, allowing them to stay only on one-year humanitarian visas.
More than 500 Yemenis arrived on the resort island of Jeju earlier this year, taking advantage of the island’s visa-free tourism policy. But their presence sparked an anti-immigrant backlash in ethnically homogenous South Korea.
On Wednesday, Seoul’s Justice Ministry granted 339 Yemenis one-year humanitarian permits to stay, acknowledging that their “right to life and personal liberty” would be put at risk if they were deported.
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