On paper, South Korea offers robust legal protections for refugees. South Korea entered the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol in 1992. It even enacted its own Refugee Act in 2013, establishing procedures for refugee status applications and protecting people who cannot safely return to their home countries.
However, only a vanishingly small proportion of asylum applicants are being recognized as refugees, with only 2.7 percent of applicants having being granted refugeeship from 1994 to 2024. Out of 122,095 people who applied for asylum in South Korea, refugee status was only given to 1,544 people. Refugeeship was given to 10.7% of Kazakhs, 9.1% of Chinese, and 6.7% of Pakistanis. Most of the applicants chose “political persecution” as the reason for their requests to be refugees.
These statistics are evidence of the difficulties in the application process. Refugee-status applicants are permitted to remain in Korea while the applications are being considered, but they cannot receive permission to work until six months after applying. Some may be given a place at the Immigration Reception Center, but the financial and economic support is limited only to a certain number of applicants.
Factors, such as language barriers and unfamiliar legal procedures, make the process even more complicated. Domestic refugee-support organizations, such as the NANCEN Refugee Rights Center, assist applicants by providing information, interpretation, and connections to volunteer lawyers.
Beyond such legal difficulties, refugee applicants and asylum seekers can face challenges in racial discrimination and hate speech. In June 2025, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) expressed concern about increasing hate speech in Korea, particularly speech directed at migrants and foreigners. The CERD urged the country to “facilitate family reunification or accompaniment for both skilled and unskilled migrant workers and allow family members access to the labour market.”
However, last year, this problem faced criticism and controversy as the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) claimed that “racism is not a problem in South Korea.” Therefore, the Korean refugee debate is not about how many people should be accepted, but it is also about how applicants are treated while their cases are examined and whether recognized refugees can become active members of the Korean society. Laws provide the foundation for protection, but successful integration requires access to employment, education, language restriction, and legal assistance.