This file photo provided by the Busan Immigration Office shows the office's signboard and buildings. (Busan Immigration Office)
A foreign national has been arrested for helping about 80 Pakistanis submit asylum applications to South Korean authorities using forged documents, the immigration office in this southern port city said Wednesday.
The Busan Immigration Office said it has referred the foreign refugee broker, whose identity was withheld, to the prosecution to be indicted on charges of violating the Immigration Control Act.
The broker is accused of taking about 1 million won ($900) from each of the false asylum seekers from Pakistan in return for assisting them in filing for refugee status, the office said, adding the Pakistanis were recruited with promises of employment opportunities here for an extended period.
The broker, who has lived here for about 20 years, allegedly approached the Pakistanis, most of them recent arrivals in South Korea, via acquaintances or social media.
The office also referred a South Korean owner of a "goshiwon," a low-cost lodging facility, to the prosecution without detention to be indicted for providing counterfeit residence documents to the Pakistanis in exchange for money.
The goshiwon owner is suspected of having received 150,000 won per person in return for offering forged documents of residence to the false asylum seekers.
The office said it has so far apprehended eight of the false asylum seekers and is still tracking down other foreigners. Of the eight caught, two were formally arrested and transferred to the prosecution and six others were deported, it noted.
The office said that the false asylum seekers pretended to have reasons for refugee claims, such as being subject to repression or personal threats at home, but they were actually trying to take advantage of the current Korean law that allows asylum applicants to remain in Korea and earn money for several years.
Last November, police in Gangwon Province, east of Seoul, cracked down on 77 false asylum seekers and two Korean brokers. According to government data, the cumulative number of asylum applications filed in South Korea topped 70,000 as of last August. (Yonhap)
