SOUTH Korea has more than 20,000 refugee applications piled up, but only 81 government officials assigned to review the cases, reported the Yonhap news agency.

According to Justice Ministry statistics obtained and released by the Seoul-based Refugee Rights Centre (Nancen) ahead of World Refugee Day, a total of 16,173 people applied for asylum in the country last year, an increase of more than 6,000 from the 9,942 recorded in 2017.

Ministry officials said the number of asylum seekers arriving in South Korea has risen sharply in recent years as the conflicts in Syria and Yemen dragged on.

Refugee applications totalled only 2,896 in 2014, 5,711 (2015) and 7,541 (2017).

As of last year, only 38 government officials were responsible for handling refugee cases. They completed reviews for only 3,879 of the 16,173 cases filed.

The ministry increased the number of officials to 81 this year to deal with a total of 21,314 applications – or more than 260 cases per official.

Only 1,238 refugees received a final decision as of end-April, from a total of 4,095 applicants.

Nancen said the initial review for an application took more than 10 months on average last year.

It added that only a few asylum seekers have been given refugee status by the government.

Of the 3,879 asylum seekers whose application deliberation was completed last year, only 144 people, or 3.7%, were granted refugee status.

For this year, as of April, the government granted the privilege to 19 of 1,238 asylum seekers.

South Korea began accepting refugee applications in 1994 after acceding to the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees in 1992.

The country also enacted the Refugee Act in 2013, becoming the first Asian nation to pass its own refugee legislation. – Bernama, June 17, 2019.