Three alleged brokers arrested for assisting false refugees

Office of the Incheon Airport Immigration Office under the Justice Ministry [INCHEON AIRPORT IMMIGRATION OFFICE]

Three alleged brokers who helped over a hundred foreigners file for refugee applications using forged documents were arrested and referred to the prosecution, Incheon Airport Immigration Office said Wednesday.

The three foreign brokers — two 24-year-old Kazakhstanis and a 31-year-old Tajikistani — have allegedly assisted 149 foreign nationals from Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Russia to apply for refugee status with fabricated documents between May 2022 and April this year.

They are believed to have received as much as 1.5 million won ($1,130) per applicant in return.

The three were referred to the Incheon District Prosecutors’ Office last Thursday for allegedly violating the Immigration Control Act, according to the Justice Ministry. The accused may face up to three years in prison and a fine of up to 30 million won in violation of the law.

The brokers have allegedly guided false asylum seekers to write false reasons to apply for refugee status such as that they have been “threatened by the Taliban in their home countries” and "accused of being a religious heresy in their home countries."

Another Korean national who provided counterfeited documents to these brokers has also been sent to the prosecution.

These suspects came under the authorities’ radar in an investigation launched after the number of refugee applications submitted to the Chuncheon Immigration Office in Gangwon abruptly surged.

“The Justice Ministry will strengthen crackdowns on brokers that help false refugees so that the country will be able to accept genuine refugees in respect to the international standards and the country’s dignity,” Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon said.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]