Using the Jeju's no-visa entry policy, more than 500 Yemenis arrived at the small tourist island located off the southern coast of South Korea in early 2018. However, the central government also banned the Yemenis from leaving the island for the South Korean mainland. The Yemenis refugees were ‘locked’ on the island.
Soon after, a wave of protests and anti‐immigrant fervor swept the country. An online petition asking President Moon Jae‐in to stop taking in asylum seekers drew a record-breaking 714,000 supporters.
By the fall of 2018, the Yemenis were allowed to enter the rest of the country depending if their status as refugees were recognized by the South Korean government. There the refugees found continued hardships and prejudice. Leaving their home country only to be lost in another, all they can do now is stand by.
Soon after, a wave of protests and anti‐immigrant fervor swept the country. An online petition asking President Moon Jae‐in to stop taking in asylum seekers drew a record-breaking 714,000 supporters.
By the fall of 2018, the Yemenis were allowed to enter the rest of the country depending if their status as refugees were recognized by the South Korean government. There the refugees found continued hardships and prejudice. Leaving their home country only to be lost in another, all they can do now is stand by.