[Myanmar] Skorea Arrests Fake Burmese Asylum Seekers

[News_Editor]

South Korea’s Justice Ministry said on Wednesday that immigration officials had caught 21 Burmese, Sri Lankan and Nepali nationals falsely applying for asylum in a bid to extend their stay in the country. According to a report by the Chosun Ilbo newspaper, the foreigners had paid agents to help them obtain refugee status in Korea, but later admitted that they merely wanted to stay in the country to work. The number of people seeking asylum in South Korea rose from just 12 in 1997 to more than 100 in 2004, and surpassed 1,000 for the first time in 2011, immigration officials said.

Source: Irrawaddy.org