Anchor: South Korea has denied refugee status to more than 300 Yemeni nationals currently seeking asylum status on the island of Jeju. 
Kurt Achin has our report.
 
Report: Wednesday’s Justice Ministry decision affects 339 Yemenis who say they are fleeing either their country’s civil war or forced conscription to fight in it.

The government says the Yemeni arrivals do not meet the criteria for refugee status, but will be allowed to stay for a year on humanitarian grounds. South Korea granted the same stay to 23 other Yemenis last month.

Thirty-four Yemeni asylum requests were rejected altogether, with the government pointing to some who were seeking refugee status for economic reasons and others who had committed crimes.

Eighty-five other Yemeni asylum requests are still awaiting a decision.

While the Yemenis on Jeju were aware of all those numbers, as of Wednesday afternoon they had no names to go with them.

Adnan Albukhaiti is a Yemeni asylum seeker whose case remains up in the air. He says many Yemenis are upset at the government’s handling of notification.

[Sound bite: Adnan Albukhaiti - male asylum seeker (English)]
“They haven’t told anyone anything, they haven’t called us, they haven’t told us who’s getting what. If they would have told people who’s being rejected that would have been a lot easier for everyone. But now because nobody knows who’s being rejected, that’s really bad. Everyone’s just wondering and guessing, are they going to be rejected or not.”

Those affected by Wednesday’s decision are part of a larger group of 481 Yemenis, most of whom arrived in Jeju on flights from Malaysia earlier this year. Jeju scrambled to close a loophole in its visa-free arrival policy that might have permitted more Yemenis to arrive.

Not all hope is lost for the Yemenis on Jeju. Non-governmental organizations have offered to pay legal fees for an appeals process, and those granted one year humanitarian stays can apply to extend that stay year-by-year until the civil war in Yemen subsides.
Kurt Achin, KBS World Radio News.