Refugees and asylum seekers who have fled their countries for Korea are soon to have a new center to go to in Seoul.

NANCEN refugee support organization is renovating the ground floor of its office to provide a kitchen, shower and laundry room for refugees to use. The NGO recently opened the new office in the Garibong-dong area of Guro-gu, in southwest Seoul.

The center also plans to provide small rooms ― called goshiwon ― around the area for some of the asylum seekers to use overnight.

“The goshiwon will provide a small bedroom, but they are basic places so they can come here and spend most of their time in this building,” said NANCEN program manager Choi Won-guen. 

The center also hopes to house a classroom where refugees and asylum seekers can learn Korean, while also teaching English and French to people in the local community.

“This is a very poor area in Seoul,” said Choi. “When we researched this area many of the local population thought this building was going to be changed into a place where their children can go and learn English.

“We are not that ― but from that idea we thought that we could bring some of the refugees to help the local people.

“There are some highly educated refugees in Korea and they can teach English and French. That is a wonderful opportunity for the local population.”

NANCEN, which was established in 2009, already supplies milk for the babies of refugees and asylum seekers in Korea but now hopes to start providing diapers and immunization shots over the next six months.

The NGO, which has three regular staff and some interns, also offers some advocacy work for refugees and helps them get legal advice here.

Not including North Koreans, more than 3,500 people have applied for asylum in South Korea up to September 2011, but only 251 have been granted refugee status. Last year alone saw 1,011 applications for asylum with 42 people recognized as refugees.

“Most applicants are rejected,” Choi said.

For more information on NANCEN go to www.nancen.org.

By Kirsty Taylor  (kirstyt@heraldcorp.com)