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After months of living at South Korean airports, Russian citizens have the right to apply for asylum. Photo/The Washington Post
SEOUL – A court in South Korea (South Korea) has given two men Russia the right to apply for refugee status. This decision also made them leave the departure terminal building of Incheon International Airport after months of living there.
Even so, the Incheon District Court rejected another Russian citizen’s asylum application, without detailing the reasons for the decision.
All three had landed at the airport in October after fleeing Russia to escape military service in Ukraine.
South Korea’s Ministry of Justice rejected their application for refugee status, saying that evading military service did not qualify as a valid reason to accept asylum in the country. All able-bodied males in South Korea must serve 18 months of mandatory military service as part of national service.
The refusal stranded the men for months in the airport’s transit area, prompting them to take the case to court. Lawyers asked not to be named out of concern for the safety of their families in Russia.
“We welcome the court’s decision on the two but it is regrettable that the other applications were rejected,” said Lee Jong-chan, a lawyer representing the three.
Read: Running away from conscription, 5 Russian men living at the airport for months
“They came here to avoid killing innocent people and getting themselves killed in a war initiated by their home country. It took them four months just to win the right to apply for refugee status,” he said as quoted by Al Jazeera, Tuesday (14/2/2023).
The two will now be allowed to end their months-long airport stay and will remain in South Korea while undergoing the process of being granted asylum, which could take years.
A third Russian citizen has the right to appeal his refusal, but for the time being he must remain at the airport. Two other Russian citizens also live at the airport. The court will decide their case for asylum later this month.
