Asylum seekers given support at new shelter

Asylum seekers here will be able to avail of accommodation and other support at a new shelter, a support group said Monday.

Nancen said it has begun running a shelter which will offer refuge during office hours and provide temporary housing through contracted low-income apartments.

Situated at a leased former precinct station building in Garibong-dong, Guro-gu, the shelter offers a kitchen, bathroom and counseling room. Those who have filed for refugee status may use the facility’s computers through which they may also receive legal and psychological counseling.

The group offered the support after finding that asylum seekers have a difficult time procuring housing during the one-year application phase, which does not allow them to work.

“The displaced usually suffer from financial difficulties as they cannot work for at least a year before getting legal refugee status,” said Choi Won-guen, a program manager for the group.

During that year, asylum seekers are in limbo where they are not given any form of aid by the government, but are also prohibited from working.

According to the Justice Ministry, the rule is in place to lower the influx of illegal migrant workers.

“Most of them look for housing among friends already here, or spend nights at religious shelters,” he said.

Through local contracts with Nancen, asylum seekers may reside in the low-income studios for free from when they first apply for refugee status until they receive permission to legally work by the Justice Ministry.

“A lot of asylum seekers who come to Korea lose hope because it is so hard to get by here,” said one refugee from Myanmar who arrived in the country in 1994.

“There really needs to be a shelter for asylum seekers,” said the 42-year-old who was given refugee status in 2008.

According to government data, 750 asylum seekers are currently awaiting refugee status as of September, with a little over 600 applicants in 2011 alone.

Korea has received 3,534 applications since 1994, when it first started receiving asylum seekers, and 250 of those have been granted refugee status.

Most applicants hail from Pakistan, Nepal, China and Myanmar.

By Robert Lee (robert@heraldcorp.com)