Having signed on the Refugees Convention in 1992, South Korea has a shameful record of refugee recognition, which is only 95 for the last 16 years, despite its remarkable economic growth to join the OECD. In recent years, however, it has recognized mo...
Having signed on the Refugees Convention in 1992, South Korea has a shameful record of refugee recognition, which is only 95 for the last 16 years, despite its remarkable economic growth to join the OECD. In recent years, however, it has recognized more and more refugees and expanded the criteria of refugee recognition through latest precedents. With the apparent improvement with refugee issues, South Korea still has institutional problems regarding them.
Refugee status claims the biggest attention among the various refugee issues. The problems with refugee status originate in the Refugees Convention, which has limitations when applied to South Korea although it's the foundation of the International Refugee Law. It's not that the convention itself doesn't have forcing power, it's just that it has its own limitations.
In this study, the investigator identified problems that took place when the Refugees Convention was applied to each country. After reviewing the brief history of refugee protection, I raised a problem with the principle of protecting refugees in relation to respect for human rights. As for the significance and characteristics of refugee protection, I examined the protection of human rights and refugees in details that were the basis of the Refugees Convention. Then I moved onto the consideration of the limitations due to the territoriality of human rights protection and each nation's persistence with their sovereignty.
The concept of persecution, which is one of the criteria of refugee recognition, was derived from the division between human rights violation and persecution. As for the significance of the Refugees Convention and the problems with its application to Korea that were the core of the study, I reviewed its limitations in the global aspect. After identifying South Korea's institutional problems, I also investigated the problems with each nation's refugee recognition system in the process of domestic application.
Recognition of refugee status, which is the most important element in the protection of refugees, is ultimately up to each nation, which deals with the matter according to its own laws. There are no provisions in the convention that forcefully ask a nation to allow a refugee to enter its territory, and UNHCR can't force it, either. However, each and every nation must respect and observe at least "the principle of non-refoulement" and "right of asylum" to guarantee human rights even though they are not mandatory provisions. Having respect for human rights as one of its national policies, South Korea takes it for granted to observe those two principles but still has room for improvement regarding the procedural problems with refugee recognition.