The Understandingof the Issue of Yemenirefugees in Korea

Kwon Jee Yun

The issue of refugees is a very serious issue on the global agenda. According to the recent report by UNHCR, there are 685,000,000 homeless people around the world, and more recently, there are an additional 16,200,000 people. From this number we can see that one out of 110 people are expelled refugees or are seeking asylum. In recent past, a number of 448 Yemeni people entered the Jeju area in Korea without visa in order to apply for refugee status. This is a significant issue in all of Korean society especially in the Jeju area. There are serious arguments for and against the Yemeni engagement policy in regards to the people who are applying for refugee status in Korea. Furthermore, angry public opinions insist on the abolition of refugee law and participation in the Refugee Convention. Given the angry public opinions, the government must find answers to the current pressing problem. More importantly, the public does not want refugees to become members of the Korean society. Their understanding of refugees is that they might be potential criminals. These opinions are related to Islamic terrorism as well as the problems seen with refugees in Europe. It is also deeply connected to Xenophobia and Islamophobia. As a result, there is a division within the Korean community: us and them. Therefore, the refugees are excluded from the society and are discriminated. Despite the fact that Korean society is no longer a monocultural society but a multicultural one, the problem of exclusion and discrimination still persists throughout the country. Considering the situation of the Yemeni refugees from a Christian mission perspective, how should the church address this issue? Volf’s concept of “exclusion and embrace” can provide the answer to this question. In his book Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation, the Croatian theologian, now a professor at Yale, Miroslav Volf, explained that so many of the sins we commit against our neighbor are acts of exclusion. He writes that in order to move from exclusion to embrace, there needs to be moments that provide space for repentance, forgiveness, creating room within oneself for the other and healing of past memories. The Korean Church should make room to embrace the Yemeni refugees without exclusion, discrimination, and fear towards Muslim refugees in Korea, despite social and religious obstacles.

KJC Korea
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