South Korean president Moon Jae-in is often referred to as “liberal.” That’s not quite right: It’s more that he’s left-wing. Moon, presiding over an administration stacked with officials who are fairly sympathetic to the decidedly illiberal regime north of the 38th parallel, has implemented a traditionally left-wing economic program. He’s hiked government spending and spearheaded a major boost to the minimum wage. Moon, quite rightly, also wants to tame the power of the Chaebol, the massive conglomerates like Hyundai and Samsung that have a disproportionate control of the Korean economy—and Korean society.
Yet Moon marries left-wing economics with the social conservatism that is still de rigueur in South Korea. During the country’s presidential campaign last year, he came out against gay soldiers and even went to so far as to state that he “opposes” homosexuality in general. And unlike other left-wing leaders across the globe, Moon evinces hostility to immigration. That position may not play in Davos—but it does in Daegu.
For the past two months, the picturesque, subtropical South Korean island of Jeju has been home to a bizarre migration crisis. Jeju is a tourist magnet, and as such, has quasi-sovereignty over immigration laws. With just a limited number of exceptions—Afghanistan, Syria, etc.—citizens from any country can visit the island for up to 30 days without a visa. They simply need to land at the airport.
A group of enterprising Yemeni refugees noticed this, and about 500 of them arrived on the island earlier this year and claimed asylum. (They had previously been in Malaysia; crucially, there is a direct flight from Kualu Lumpur to Jeju.) This led to a massive backlash not only in Jeju, but across South Korea as a whole. More than 700,000 Koreans signed a petition demanding that its government tighten up its refugee policies—though it would be difficult for them to be much tougher. As the Joongang Ilbo reports, since “1992, 42,009 people have sought asylum in Korea, but only 4 percent – 849 people – have been granted status. Jeju, for its part, swiftly removed Yemen from the list of countries whose citizens don’t require a visa to visit.
Last week, the Moon administration finally responded to the petition. And it announced that the country was going to become more stringent with refugee applications. “We have decided to come up with measures to help refugees utilize their own capabilities and live independently instead of being passively dependent on protection and support,” Moon’s justice minister said, responding the widespread notion that the refugees will immediately go on the dole.
He added, “We will also consider not referring fake asylum seekers who are clearly seeking to take advantage of the refugee protection system to the review process. We also plan to stipulate penalties for refugee brokers engaging in illegal activities.”
Furthermore, “We will bolster the screening process by making it mandatory for asylum applicants to submit their social media accounts and other measures. We will conduct stringent screenings for drug use, infectious diseases, and records of violent crimes,” the minister declared.
As Bernie Sanders, for example, has noticed, there is no natural link between left-wing economics and libertarian immigration policies. Moon Jae-in is perhaps the only leader on the world stage who realizes this as well.
