Anchor: Two Yemeni journalists have become the first refugees from the country to receive asylum status in South Korea. Having reported critically on the rebel forces who have seized power in their country, it was judged that they would likely face persecution should they return home.  
Moon Gwang-lip has more. 

Report: The Jeju branch of the Korea Immigration Service on Friday announced its final decision on a group of Yemenis who applied for refugee status in South Korea. 

Among 74 asylum requests, two, both from journalists, have been granted. It marks the first such case involving any refugee from the Middle Eastern country torn apart by a civil war. 

The two received death threats from Yemen's Houthi insurgency for their stories critical of the Islamic religious-political-armed movement. The journalists were judged to run a high risk of facing persecution if they returned to Yemen.  

The immigration office also decided to allow 50 others to stay in South Korea on humanitarian grounds citing the chance of them facing infringement of their physical freedom should they return home. 

Asylum requests from 22 others were rejected. 

The two granted refugee status along with 50 others allowed to stay on humanitarian grounds can move out of Jeju into other parts of the country as long as they report to authorities within two weeks. 

Those affected by Friday’s decision are part of a larger group of 484 Yemenis, most of who arrived in Jeju on flights from Malaysia between January and May. Of those, two of them have now been granted refugee status while 412 can stay in South Korea on humanitarian grounds.
Moon Gwang-lip, KBS World Radio News.