When hundreds of Yemenis fleeing war and the humanitarian crisis back home made their way to a South Korean island last year, they were not expecting a warm welcome. But neither did they expected the outcry that labeled them “fake refugees.”

Leaving behind their homeland’s hostility, most of the Yemeni asylum seekers are trying to build their lives and adapt to Korean society until it is safer to return to their war-ravaged country. 

Their journey to settle in Korea, however, is riddled with obstacles, highlighting how socially, culturally and legally unprepared South Korea is to embrace asylum seekers of different races and religions. 

More than 480 Yemenis arrived on Jeju Island, some 100 kilometers off the country’s southern coast, last spring. 

Only two of them were granted refugee status, and 56 were ordered to leave Korea. Some 412 Yemenis were granted temporary “humanitarian stay” permits that allow them to remain in Korea until the situation in Yemen stabilizes. 

Now, the majority of them have left the island for the mainland, mostly in search of employment. Some 126 Yemenis remain on the island as of the end of January, according to the Justice Ministry. 

After <person>Alnukhbi Mabrook</person>, 26, received a humanitarian stay permit in October, he left the island and began to work as chef at a BBQ restaurant in Incheon. 

The situation in Yemen is very difficult, said <person>Mabrook</person>, who left his parents and four sisters at home in the country’s capital Sanaa.

“I ask them how their lives go, whether they are fine, but they say they’re so scared because of bomb explosions. They stay home most of their time. Things are expensive -- gas and electricity. Hospitals are so packed, a lot of people die and suffer from hunger,” he said. 

Yemen’s nearly 4-year-old civil war between the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels and Saudi-backed government has killed tens of thousands and displaced and estimated 3.3 million people, according to the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. 

More than 20 million people across the country are food insecure, with half of them suffering extreme levels of hunger, the agency said.

For <person>Mabrook</person>, who finally found safe refuge out of Yemen and a job to support his family back home, he could not be thankful enough. 

“I would like to thank South Korea for accepting Yemeni people. I am happy now,” he said. “If possible, I want to bring my family here. I want to study Korean. I want to build my life here.”