Point (facts): ‘423 days’ confined at the airport
Line (contexts): An 11-year-old boy is also at Incheon Airport now
Plane (perspectives): Korea that does not allow refugees
Incheon Airport Terminal 1. Yonhap News Agency
Airports where travelers quicken their excited steps. Did you know there are people who are stuck there with no way out, living inside? They are asylum seekers who failed to pass the Korean government’s excessively stringent refugee-status screening. Called ‘airport refugees’, some remain confined in airports for over a year, effectively sleeping rough.
An old issue has recently resurfaced. The United Nations, referring to a case of an airport refugee who had lived at Incheon International Airport for more than 400 days, determined that “the Korean government violated international agreements.” Let us find out what happened.
Point (facts): ‘423 days’ confined at the airport
Rika (52·alias), from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, arrived at Korea’s Incheon Airport in February 2020 to escape civil war. He said upon arrival that he would apply for refugee status, but the Ministry of Justice did not allow it. Because he had arrived on a connecting flight, the Ministry of Justice said he was a ‘transit passenger’ and could not be given an opportunity for refugee screening. He was confined to the airport’s transit area.
With help from human rights organizations, Rika filed suit, and in May 2021 the court ruled that he “must be given a refugee screening,” finally allowing him to leave the airport. That was after 423 days of airport life. The longest-staying airport refugee in the country, he continued to suffer from back pain and trauma caused by the prolonged homelessness even after leaving. He was once denied refugee status and is now awaiting the result of his reapplication.
Rika (52·alias), who lived inside the transit area of Incheon Airport for 14 months starting in February 2020. Courtesy of Rika
In June 2020, while staying at the airport, Rika filed a petition with the UN Human Rights Committee. After six years, on the 2nd (local time), the Committee finally issued its response. The Committee stated, “The Korean government confined Rika for 14 months under inhumane conditions and violated his rights, thereby breaching the ‘International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights’, and it must provide appropriate compensation and take measures to prevent recurrence.”
Line (contexts): An 11-year-old boy is also at Incheon Airport now
Airport refugees like Rika are not just one or two cases. Human rights lawyer A, who was persecuted by the Egyptian government, arrived at Incheon Airport in June last year and applied for refugee status. However, the Ministry of Justice, citing his numerous records of exiting the country, refused to conduct screening, saying “he is not a refugee,” and he slept rough at the airport for four months. B, who fled his home country of Mali to escape military dictatorship, and his 11-year-old son also had their refugee application dismissed and have been living at Incheon Airport for 10 months since last June. C, a refugee from Guinea who arrived at Gimhae International Airport in April last year, also slept rough for five months, receiving only hamburgers.
What is life like for airport refugees? Kyunghyang Shinmun met the family of a refugee named Lurendo who were sleeping rough at Incheon Airport in February 2019. They pushed three sofas together and lived in a corner of Terminal 1. Because the lights stayed on late into the night and people kept moving around, they could not sleep properly, and they suffered from the cold due to the air conditioning that ran even in winter. After spending 287 days at the airport, Lurendo’s family were recognized as refugees in October 2021.
Even when they fall ill from the harsh conditions, it is difficult to receive medical services. Because of the nature of the airport as a secure area, it is hard for them to go outside or for medical staff to come inside. In urgent situations, they can receive ‘emergency landing permits,’ but the procedures are complex, and it is not easy to obtain cooperation from airlines, which must handle the application for emergency landing permits and bear treatment costs. In its 2020 report on airport refugees, the public-interest law group ‘Duru’ wrote, “Asylum seekers found that airlines were reluctant to shoulder treatment costs, and they could only receive treatment after saying they would pay the costs themselves.”
Plane (perspectives): Korea that does not allow refugees
The reason they are trapped in airports for so long is the Korean government’s stringent refugee screening, which is harder than passing through the eye of a needle. In 2024, Korea’s refugee recognition rate was 1.9%, not even one-tenth of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average of 24.8%. This refers only to those who completed screening and were recognized as refugees. Many, like Rika, are refused the opportunity to apply in the first place.
It is hard to know exactly why the Korean government applies such strict criteria for refugee status. The government is extremely reluctant to disclose information related to refugees. Still, the high threshold for recognition may be related to how the Korean government views the very existence of refugees.
In May 2022, Kyunghyang Shinmun first reported on a government document titled ‘Guidelines on refugee-status determination, treatment, and stay’ that had been hidden behind closed doors. Revealed through a lawsuit by the Refugee Rights Center, the document contained many indications that the Korean government basically suspects asylum seekers of being ‘fake refugees’ and demands a certain ‘refugee-ness.’ For example, if an asylum seeker appeals or files a further appeal against the results of litigation related to their stay status, they can be stigmatized as a ‘vexatious litigant’ and face disadvantages. There was also a provision to examine the ‘genuineness of the marriage’ if a person with humanitarian stay marries.
During the lawsuit, the Ministry of Justice argued that “if the guidelines are disclosed, asylum seekers and others could apply the criteria to their advantage to apply for residence permits or continue illegal employment.” The court held that “the information must be disclosed to protect the rights and interests of the parties guaranteed by the refugee laws and regulations.” Although the guidelines were disclosed after the lawsuit, the cases of airport refugees suggest that the government’s attitude has not changed much.
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