Self-claimed prince of Ghana denied asylum in S. Korea

SEOUL, Nov. 28 (Yonhap) -- A young man who claims to be a prince of Ghana was
denied refugee status in South Korea as an appeals court, overturning a lower
court's decision, found alleged death threats against him in his homeland "not
credible," court documents showed Friday.

The Seoul High Court nullified the refugee status granted to the 23-year-old by
an administrative court, who will now have to leave the country within a month
unless he appeals to the Supreme Court.
The applicant came to Korea in July 2006 at the invitation of a Korean church and
applied for refugee status with the Justice Ministry in November that year. The
ministry denied asylum, and he filed an application with the Seoul
Administrative Court.
In court hearings, he claimed he was born in Dabgon kingdom, north of Republic of
Ghana, where his uncle was the king. His father died when he was young, and he
grew up under the guidance of the uncle.
The tribe had two clans who alternately ruled the kingdom -- Anhani, to which his
family belonged, and Abudu. Amid a power struggle, the Abudu rivals killed his
uncle, his mother and sisters in 2002, and he also continually faced attempted
murder, he said.
He had converted to Christianity, and a pastor came to his rescue to help him
flee to Korea in the form of an invitation to a missionary event, he had hold the
court.
The Justice Ministry said in the hearings that he had testified differently
during its examination. He said he grew up helping his uncle's farm, and the
people in his village, who were mostly Muslims, threatened to kill his family,
according to the ministry.
The lower court had said while it was not clear whether he was a member of
Ghana's royal family, his claim of threatened persecution at home was consistent
throughout the hearings. The court granted him asylum, saying he had "a
well-founded fear of being persecuted" as defined by the U.N. Refugee Convention.
The ministry appealed, and the appeals court overturned the earlier decision.
"It is not credible that the applicant received persecution from Muslim clans or
other clans because of religious reasons or tribal disputes, and there is no
document to verify it," Judge Park Sam-bong said in the verdict.
Kim Jae-nam, a ministry official in charge of refugee status, said an envisioned
deportation order will be suspended if he appeals to the top court. It was not
yet known whether he will do so.
Since the first refugee was accepted here in 2001, Seoul has granted asylum to 96
people, many of them whom are Myanmarese, while about 370 applicants were denied,
according to ministry data. The rest are waiting for a decision or have left the
country during the deliberation process.
The number of people who applied for refugee status in Korea surpassed 2,000 this
year. Last year, 717 people applied, compared to 37 in 2001.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)