Jeju, a subtropical, volcanic island off of South Korea has an almost mythical status in Korean consciousness. The island is famed for its Hawaii-like topography and its Haenyeo—the famous “sea women.” The island is home to an ancient tradition where local women, sans diving apparatus, swim to the bottom of the sea and collect fish. Nearly ever Korean baby boomer honeymooned on Jeju. And even as Korean visits to the island declined in recent years as Chinese tourism to Jeju surged, the Seoul to Jeju route remains the world’s busiest flight.

And now, perhaps improbably, the idyllic island finds itself in the middle of the issue defining global politics in 2018: migration.