According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, an average of 1.6 million individuals become refugees each year, signifying ongoing conflicts and crises worldwide. It underscores the necessity for international cooperation and responses to address this global challenge. South Korea, as a party to ‘The 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees,’ is obligated to adhere to the agreement. In 2012, it became the first country in Asia to enact the ‘Refugee Act,’ an independent law on refugees. However, issues have arisen, including an extremely low refugee recognition rate and passive treatment of refugee protection in practice. Furthermore, recent attempts to amend the ‘Refugee Act’ in a direction that excludes refugee recognition have sparked domestic and international criticism. South Korea’s refugee recognition rate ranks among the lowest in OECD member countries, and the increasing number of annual refugee applications has led to a backlog due to the inability to process cases promptly. The refugee budget, particularly the execution rate of livelihood support, which is a crucial welfare component for refugees, remained extremely low at 29.4% in 2022. Ensuring accurate and fair refugee assessments has proven challenging with the current refugee assessment personnel and system in place. For all refugees except recognised refugees, the severe gaps in the social security system have led to significant challenges during their stay in Korea. Through concrete empirical evidence, this paper confirms the current situation and visualises the severity of the issue. In response to these challenges, the following proposals are suggested. First, the currently discussed amendment to the ‘Refugee Act’ violates the spirit of the refugee agreement and has the potential for unconstitutionality; therefore, it should be revised or withdrawn. Second, the practice of using the ‘other’ category, cited as a reason for asylum in refugee applications, as grounds for non-recognition decisions should be corrected. Third, efforts should be made to enhance the right to survival for refugees through the expansion of livelihood support, diligent budget execution, broadening of employment permits, securing support through multicultural family support centres, and amending flawed individual laws. Finally, to establish an accurate, prompt, and fair asylum system, it is essential to strengthen the refugee workforce, providing specialised training through task-specific education.
