South Korea joined the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees in 1992 and became the first country in East Asia to enact its own refugee law in 2012.^[1] According to the Ministry of Justice in South Korea, there has been 12,208 asylum applicants since 1992 and it accepted 522 (4.2% of the total applicants) as refugees.^[2] The UNHCR categorized 44 industrialized countries in the world as refugees receiving countries.^{[citation needed]} South Korea is one of the receiving countries in Asia-Pacific including Japan. The number of asylum applications in 2013 has increased by 85%; however, according to the Ministry of Justice in South Korea, the acceptance rate of refugees is 7.3% at the end of 2014.^[3] UNHCR said among the Parties relating to the Status of Refugees, 38% of asylum seekers were accepted as refugees, which is Korea's acceptance is much lower than international standards.^[4] The top nationality of asylum seekers in Korea is Pakistan (2,017) since 1994. The top three nationalities of people accepted as a refugee are Myanmar (154), Bangladesh (84), and Ethiopia (73). Refugees in Myanmar were accepted as a refugee because of political reasons but the number of refugees has decreased as the political situation in Myanmar has improved.^[5]

The process of asylum applicants is very complicated in South Korea. Asylum seekers in South Korea are not allowed to get a job for the first 6 months, which prevent illegal stay for getting a job. They are not in the public health insurance system, as well. The Korean government supports living expenses to asylum seekers, but for only 7% of them because of a lack of budget. It takes over a year to be categorised as a refugee.^[5] The asylum seekers have to be permitted to extend their residence for every 6 months, a year for people who are staying under humanitarian grounds.^[6] However, it is hard to be performed precisely because there is not enough human resources for status determination.^[7]

In 2018, 500 refugees fleeing the civil war in Yemen came to Jeju Island, causing unease among some of the residents of Jeju Island.^{[8][9][10][11][12][13]} Among many activist groups and celebrities, Jung Woo-sung raised attention to the situation of the refugees and reaffirmed his support to them.^[14][15]