hankyoreh

An Iranian asylum seeker greets fellow classmates and their parents in front of the Immigration Office in Seoul’s Yangcheon District after applying for refugee status on July 19. (Park Jong-shik

Around 50 students from a middle school in Seoul’s Songpa district gathered around midday on July 19 in front of the Immigration Office in Seoul’s Yangcheon district. Standing under a roasting sun with signs in their hand, they were there for one reason: to help their friend from Iran, a 15-year-old classmate identified as “A” who failed to receive refugee status.

“Look at the reality behind the prejudice,” read one of the sentences on the students’ signs. “Show some care for our friend behind the lies,” read another.

An Iranian national, A came to South Korea with his father, who arrived for business in 2010. Muslims when they arrived, the father and son converted to Christianity as they settled in South Korea. During his second year in elementary school, A began going to church at a friend’s suggestion; his father converted at his son’s suggestion in 2015. Under Iran’s sharia law, conversion is regarded as treason.

In 2016, the father and son applied for refugee status with the South Korean government. The Office of Immigration declined to grant it to them. It concluded that A – then a minor under 14 – showed “unclear” religious values, and that the two were unlikely to be subjected to immediate persecution upon returning simply for having attended a church during their stay in South Korea. In a subsequent administrative case, the first court ruled to grant refugee status, but the decision was overturned by the second high court. The Supreme Court reached the same conclusion.

Upon hearing that A had not been granted refugee status, his friends took action. On July 11, a petition went up on the Blue House citizen petition board under the name “Help our friend get a fair review and receive refugee status.” The petition had been posted by a friend of A’s based on opinions she had gathered from other classmates. “If our friend leaves us needlessly like this, it will leave a great scar,” they said in the message. As word spread, Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education superintendent Cho Hee-yeon paid a visit to A’s school on the morning of July 19.

Friends unanimously described A as “cheerful.” He was the “first to strike up a conversation” with a 15-year-old surnamed Han who has been his inseparable friend for over seven years since the second year of elementary school.

“He was the first to talk to me when I was transferred to an unfamiliar elementary school,” Han said. “He’s good at sports and he gets along so well with the others that he’s been class president twice.”

Han’s wish was simple. “I just want him to be able to go to school safety and play games and football together. That’s all.”

While his friends sang along and offered support, A went inside the Immigration Office to file the documents for a new refugee status request.

“If I can stay in South Korea, I want to be a model,” A said.

“My role model is Han Hyun-min (Howard Han, a Nigerian-Korean), and I will keep working to the end to realize by dream on standing on the same runway as him,” he added.

By Lim Jae-woo, staff reporter

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