ID :
30305
Fri, 11/14/2008 - 18:59
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/30305
The shortlink copeid
S. Korea to grant asylum to Chinese for first time
(ATTN: ADDS paras 5-11 for Chinese refugee's democratic activity, minor changes)
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Nov. 14 (Yonhap) -- The Supreme Court ruled against the government and ordered that asylum be granted to a Chinese family who fear persecution at home, marking South Korea's first such decision for Chinese nationals, court documents showed Friday.
The three Chinese "belong to a category of people who 'have a well-founded fear
of being persecuted' as defined by the U.N. refugee convention," presiding
justice Yang Chang-soo said in the verdict, rejecting the Justice Ministry's
appeal.
Yuan Wenrui, 54, along with his wife and son, filed for refugee status in
September 2003 after entering Korea as members of a tour group that month.
The ministry rejected their application in September 2006, saying that Yuan
failed to prove that he had engaged in anti-Beijing activities at home.
Yuan took his case to the judiciary, and an administrative court in 2007 ruled in
his favor, saying, "There is a high chance that the plaintiff and his family will
be subject to persecution by the Chinese government" should they be repatriated.
The court noted Yuan's personal details are registered with the Chinese Embassy
as well as security authorities at home.
Since he was young, Yuan has participated in a variety of democracy activities
and sent letters to foreign media to shed light on human rights abuses in China,
according to the court document.
The resident of Shanxi Province in China's northeast, Yuan was a member of the
so-called Democracy Wall movement in the late 1970s, and was beaten and detained
by Chinese police for a week.
To expose Beijing's brutal crackdown on the famous democracy movement in the
Tiananmen Square in 1989, Yuan called foreign broadcasters like Voice of America
and the BBC and distributed photos of protest scenes to his relatives on CDs.
In the latest such effort, he delivered a letter to Radio Free Asia, a U.S.
based-radio station, detailing how a condemned Chinese prisoner had his organs
illegally removed during the process of his execution in 2002, the court noted.
In Seoul, he took part in a democracy demonstration in front of the Chinese
Embassy in June 2004.
The Justice Ministry appealed the Seoul Administrative Court's ruling, but the
High Court also ruled in favor of the Chinese family.
The Supreme Court upheld the lower court's verdict and ordered that the
government grant the status in line with Korea's immigration laws and the 1951
Refugee Convention, which South Korea signed in 1992.
"The justice minister should recognize as a refugee a foreigner who seeks asylum
owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion,
nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion or if
he does not want to receive protection from his home country," the court said.
The ministry said it will retract its earlier decision and grant the family
refugee status.
"They didn't have enough documents to prove their anti-government activity," Kim
Jae-nam, a ministry official in charge of asylum cases, said. "Most foreigners
seeking asylum are illegal residents who want to stay here, and it's not easy to
sort out genuine refugees," Kim said.
According to the Justice Ministry, the number of people who applied for refugee
status in South Korea broke the 2,000 mark this year. Last year, 717 people
applied, compared to 37 in 2001.
Displaced people increasingly turned to Korea, once a war-torn country that has
since transformed itself into the world's 13th largest economy and native home of
the current U.N. Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, officials say.
Since the first refugee was accepted in 2001, Seoul has granted asylum to a total
of 95 people, 41 of whom are Myanmarese, while about 370 applicants were denied.
The rest are waiting for a decision or have left the country during the
deliberation process, according to ministry data.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Nov. 14 (Yonhap) -- The Supreme Court ruled against the government and ordered that asylum be granted to a Chinese family who fear persecution at home, marking South Korea's first such decision for Chinese nationals, court documents showed Friday.
The three Chinese "belong to a category of people who 'have a well-founded fear
of being persecuted' as defined by the U.N. refugee convention," presiding
justice Yang Chang-soo said in the verdict, rejecting the Justice Ministry's
appeal.
Yuan Wenrui, 54, along with his wife and son, filed for refugee status in
September 2003 after entering Korea as members of a tour group that month.
The ministry rejected their application in September 2006, saying that Yuan
failed to prove that he had engaged in anti-Beijing activities at home.
Yuan took his case to the judiciary, and an administrative court in 2007 ruled in
his favor, saying, "There is a high chance that the plaintiff and his family will
be subject to persecution by the Chinese government" should they be repatriated.
The court noted Yuan's personal details are registered with the Chinese Embassy
as well as security authorities at home.
Since he was young, Yuan has participated in a variety of democracy activities
and sent letters to foreign media to shed light on human rights abuses in China,
according to the court document.
The resident of Shanxi Province in China's northeast, Yuan was a member of the
so-called Democracy Wall movement in the late 1970s, and was beaten and detained
by Chinese police for a week.
To expose Beijing's brutal crackdown on the famous democracy movement in the
Tiananmen Square in 1989, Yuan called foreign broadcasters like Voice of America
and the BBC and distributed photos of protest scenes to his relatives on CDs.
In the latest such effort, he delivered a letter to Radio Free Asia, a U.S.
based-radio station, detailing how a condemned Chinese prisoner had his organs
illegally removed during the process of his execution in 2002, the court noted.
In Seoul, he took part in a democracy demonstration in front of the Chinese
Embassy in June 2004.
The Justice Ministry appealed the Seoul Administrative Court's ruling, but the
High Court also ruled in favor of the Chinese family.
The Supreme Court upheld the lower court's verdict and ordered that the
government grant the status in line with Korea's immigration laws and the 1951
Refugee Convention, which South Korea signed in 1992.
"The justice minister should recognize as a refugee a foreigner who seeks asylum
owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion,
nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion or if
he does not want to receive protection from his home country," the court said.
The ministry said it will retract its earlier decision and grant the family
refugee status.
"They didn't have enough documents to prove their anti-government activity," Kim
Jae-nam, a ministry official in charge of asylum cases, said. "Most foreigners
seeking asylum are illegal residents who want to stay here, and it's not easy to
sort out genuine refugees," Kim said.
According to the Justice Ministry, the number of people who applied for refugee
status in South Korea broke the 2,000 mark this year. Last year, 717 people
applied, compared to 37 in 2001.
Displaced people increasingly turned to Korea, once a war-torn country that has
since transformed itself into the world's 13th largest economy and native home of
the current U.N. Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, officials say.
Since the first refugee was accepted in 2001, Seoul has granted asylum to a total
of 95 people, 41 of whom are Myanmarese, while about 370 applicants were denied.
The rest are waiting for a decision or have left the country during the
deliberation process, according to ministry data.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
