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The Lulendo family has spent the last nine months at the transit section of Incheon International Airport. (Choi Yoon-do

After being stranded for nine months at Incheon Airport, a family of Angolan nationals of Congolese background has been granted permission by a South Korean court to apply for refugee status.

On Sept. 27, Hon. Koh Ui-yeong, a judge at Administrative Division 1-1 at the Seoul High Court, sided with a man named Lulendo, his wife, and their four children, reversing a lower court’s decision. The Lulendo family had asked the court to reverse a decision by the head of the Incheon Airport branch of immigration that prevented them from applying for refugee status.

After arriving at Incheon Airport on Dec. 28, Lulendo attempted to apply for refugee status, claiming that his wife had been raped while the Angolan government was expelling Congolese immigrants from the country and that his family had suffered detention and persecution. But immigration officials refused to give the family a hearing, concluding that they had no valid reason for seeking refugee status.

Since that time, the Lulendos have been camping out in the transit section of the airport, in the duty free wing.

The Lulendos rejected immigration’s decision and filed an administrative lawsuit against the office in February. “Even if the Lulendos only applied for refugee status after being refused entry to the country, we cannot assume they didn’t intend to make an application. This can also be seen as a desperate attempt to flee persecution from the Angolan government,” the court said.

“The decision not to even allow the family to apply for refugee status cannot be sustained. After their application has been heard and their case investigated, the final decision should be made about whether they’re granted refugee status,” the judge said, overturning the lower court’s decision.

The lower court had rejected the Lulendos’ appeal, concluding that the airport hadn’t broken the law. “This is an unfortunate situation, but there are no procedural problems with the office’s decision,” that court had said.

By Jang Ye-ji, staff reporter

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