Top court rejects asylum for Ugandan who claims persecution over homosexuality

South Korea’s top court on Sunday sent back a case of a Ugandan asylum seeker who claimed that she was persecuted in her home country because she was homosexual, citing a lack of credibility in her testimonies.

The Supreme Court annulled an earlier ruling in favor of the plaintiff and ordered a retrial, saying she lacked coherency and reasoning in her claims. The Ugandan filed a lawsuit against the chief of the Korea Immigration Service in Seoul after she was refused refugee status. 

“She and her female partner’s testimonies on when they first started their relationship do not match. Also, it is very unusual that she was able to leave for Korea through the airport in Uganda and fulfill the required paperwork needed to apply for a visa as a language student here, without any problems,” the top court said.

“We cannot exclude the possibility that the submitted subpoena issued from the local government and documents on her bail are also fabricated.”

The 29-year-old Ugandan entered South Korea in February 2014 as a language student, and requested asylum. She claimed she was likely to be arrested or killed if she goes back to her country. She also said that she was arrested by police after her stepmother reported her as a homosexual, and was released on bail.

The Ugandan government has sought to introduce an anti-homosexuality law that included a death penalty provision.

By Jo He-rim(herim@heraldcorp.com)