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3 immigration officers punished for rigging refugee interviews

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Asylum seekers in Korea and their translators attend a NANCEN-organized press conference at the National Human Rights Commission of Korea in Seoul, June 18, to disclose the immigration office's systematic falsification of refugee testimony by Arab and Muslim applicants. / Korea Times photo by Lee Suh-yoon
Asylum seekers in Korea and their translators attend a NANCEN-organized press conference at the National Human Rights Commission of Korea in Seoul, June 18, to disclose the immigration office's systematic falsification of refugee testimony by Arab and Muslim applicants. / Korea Times photo by Lee Suh-yoon

By Lee Suh-yoon

Three refugee screening officers at the Ministry of Justice will face disciplinary action for rigging refugee interview records involving Arab and Muslim asylum seekers, the ministry said Tuesday.

The announcement comes after several asylum seekers spoke out last month about how some immigration officials intentionally rigged their interview records ― leaving out crucial testimony of the persecution they faced in their home countries and adding false claims that made the applicants look like they came to Korea just to find work.

"After a thorough internal investigation, we ordered the disciplinary committee to impose strict punitive measures last week," the ministry said in a statement. "We will also look into additional cases raised by some media outlets and take necessary action if the allegations are found to be true."

The problem was first pointed out by NANCEN and other refugee rights groups in 2017. In October that year, the Seoul Administrative Court ruled the ministry's screening process had "procedural flaws," prompting the justice ministry to conduct an internal investigation into refugee interviews recorded since 2015 and review 55 rejected asylum cases. Two rejected asylum seekers were granted refugee status after the review.

The problem, however, extended beyond the 55 cases found in the ministry's 2017 internal investigation. NANCEN alone found 18 more cases in 2018 and reported them to the National Human Rights Commission.

The global refugee crisis is becoming increasingly apparent at the South Korean border. Last year, 16,173 people applied for asylum in Korea, according to the immigration office, up 63 percent from 2017.

To meet this increasing flow and prevent rigged interviews in the future, the ministry said it would improve the system by better training its officials with UNHCR officers and creating a special interview question manual that all officials must follow. It also vowed to provide better translation services in the screening process by hiring more professional translators.




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