A military plane with Afghan evacuees arrives in South Korea

SEOUL, Aug 26 (Reuters) – About 400 evacuated Afghans arrived in Seoul on Thursday, where the government said it was amending the law to allow long-term stays for those working on South Korean projects in the Afghanistan before the Taliban took power this month.

Immigration is a controversial issue in South Korea, where many take pride in ethnic homogeneity, even as the 52 million population ages rapidly and the workforce declines.

At least two flights were to attract 391 people, including the families of workers at the Korean embassy, ​​the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), a hospital and a vocational training institute run by the Korean government and military bases. .

Justice Minister Park Beom-kye said many Koreans had received international support after having to flee during the Korean War from 1950 to 1953.

“Now it’s time for us to return the favor,” he said at a briefing at Incheon Airport, outside the capital, before arrival.

The government was in the process of amending immigration laws to grant Afghans long-term residence as foreigners who had rendered special service to the country, Park added.

He acknowledged the controversy over the plan and said the decision to accept Afghan evacuees was “difficult”, but added that South Korea could not give up on its friends.

“Even though we are physically separated in a distant country, they were practically our neighbors,” he said. “How could we make them blindfolded when their lives are at risk from working with us?”

South Korea has accepted more than 30,000 North Korean defectors over the years, but approves a much smaller number of asylum seekers from other countries.

In 2018, a sudden rise in Yemeni arrivals on the southern tourist island of Jeju sparked fears about a possible rise in crime and other social problems, prompting government repression against arrivals.

Only 55 of the 6,684 people seeking refugee status in South Korea in 2020 received it, with 127 more allowed to remain on humanitarian grounds, although they have not been designated as refugees, according to ministry data of justice.

Report by Josh Smith and Hyonhee Shin; Additional reports from Sangmi Cha; Edited by Clarence Fernandez

Our standards: the principles of trust of Thomson Reuters.