Brokers are turning South Korea’s refugee application process into a backdoor route for long-term stays, with 109 people caught arranging false claims between 2021 and 2025, a local media outlet reported Monday, citing Justice Ministry data.
According to the Korean-language daily JoongAng Ilbo, all 109 people are subject to criminal or administrative punishment. Excluding cases still under review, 57 were sentenced to prison terms and 13 were fined, the ministry said.
The number rose from nine in 2021 to 14 in 2022, 24 in both 2023 and 2024 and 38 in 2025.
The brokers allegedly targeted foreign nationals seeking to stay in Korea by promising to help them obtain refugee applicant status. Critics say they are exploiting a provision in the Refugee Act that allows applicants to remain in the country until the screening process is completed.
Under Article 5 of the Refugee Act, the government must allow applicants to stay in Korea until the refugee review process is concluded.
A review of multiple refugee case rulings found that the process, from application and screening to objection procedures and administrative lawsuits through the appeals stage, took more than four years on average.
In one case, a Turkmenistan national was found to have recruited compatriots on social media from early 2025 by promising to help them gain refugee status in Korea. He provided travel itineraries and hotel reservations so they could enter Korea as tourists, then helped them file refugee applications containing false information after their arrival.
He reportedly charged about 750,000 won ($508) per case. He began the scheme after obtaining G-1-5 refugee applicant status himself through false information. In January, the Incheon District Court sentenced him to eight months in prison, suspended for two years.
In another case, a broker posed as a landlord in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, and sold fake lease contracts needed for refugee applications. He provided false contracts 123 times between March 2022 and October 2023, charging about 70,000 won to 100,000 won per case. On Jan. 13, he was sentenced to one year in prison, suspended for two years, for violating the Immigration Act.
Another issue is that there are no limits on the number of times a person can reapply for refugee status. One foreign national has stayed in Korea for 13 years while filing refugee applications and related lawsuits seven times since first applying in 2013, according to the report.
The ministry said refugee lawsuits averaged 3,136 cases a year over the past five years. Of those, only 19 cases were won by plaintiffs in the first trial, representing a win rate of 0.6 percent. That compares with a 15.2 percent first-trial win rate for administrative lawsuits excluding refugee cases.
Critics say repeated applications and lawsuits by those unlikely to qualify for protection delay reviews for people who may have legitimate claims.
“There is an atmosphere in which not only brokers, but also some lawyers and administrative agents encourage false refugee lawsuits, and more foreigners are exploiting this,” Ahn Dae-hwan, chair of the Korea Migrant Workers Foundation, was quoted as saying. “The reality is that genuine refugees who have faced persecution in their home countries are left waiting indefinitely.”
Ahn cited the case of a Chinese national in her 50s who applied for refugee status in Korea after facing religious persecution, but who has been waiting for a review for three years.
The backlog has also raised concerns about delays in the court system. According to the ministry, refugee lawsuits accounted for 36 percent of all administrative lawsuits filed with the Supreme Court last year, compared with just 1.6 percent in 2014, the year after the Refugee Act took effect.
Bills to allow early dismissal of repeated refugee applications filed without significant new grounds have been proposed by lawmakers from both the ruling and opposition parties, including Rep. Kim Gi-pyo of the Democratic Party of Korea and Rep. Yoo Sang-bum of the People Power Party. The bills have been pending for months at the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee.
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com
