Seoul, South Korea CNN —
Five Russian men who fled the country following Moscow’s military mobilization order last September have been stuck at South Korea’s Incheon International Airport for months after authorities refused to take them.
Three of the men arrived in October and the remaining two in November, their lawyer Lee Jong-chan said.
Lee said their applications for refugee status were denied by South Korea’s Justice Ministry, leaving them stranded in the departures area for months while awaiting a decision on their appeal. “They get one meal a day, lunch,” Lee told CNN. “But the rest of the day they live on bread and drink.”
The men can shower but must hand wash their clothes and are not allowed to leave the departure and duty-free areas, he added.
“They have limited access to medical care (and) no support for their mental health, which is important given their precarious situation,” he said.
The “partial mobilization” of Russian citizens for the country’s war against Ukraine sparked angry protests when it was announced last September and sparked a mass exodus. Many climbed over land borders or bought plane tickets abroad.
Collective data showed that more than 200,000 people fled Russia to Georgia, Kazakhstan and the European Union in the first week after the announcement of the mobilizations.
“I don’t support what’s going on, so I just decided I have to go immediately,” a man who went to Belarus previously told CNN.
“It feels bad because a lot of my friends, a lot of people, don’t support the war and feel threatened by what’s going on and there’s no democratic way to really stop this, not even to explain your protest.” said the man had said.
Men up to the age of 60 with no criminal record can be drafted into military service. Previous military experience is not always required.
Soldiers who refuse to fight and return to the front are reportedly being held in basements in occupied Ukrainian territory and face charges of desertion, according to their families.
Only those convicted of sex crimes against minors, treason, espionage or terrorism are exempt from conscription.
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South Korea’s Justice Ministry has dismissed the men’s applications as “unworthy of review” — on the grounds that refusing to do military service is not a reason for refugee status, according to their lawyer, Lee.
Their refusal to serve in the Russian military “should be recognized as a political reason,” considering Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was “condemned by international law,” Lee said.
Human rights groups have urged the South Korean government to accept the men as refugees.
“Those who apply for refugee status after escaping political and religious persecution in their home countries have the right to protection under international law,” a South Korean rights advocacy group said in a statement. It was very likely that the men would be “imprisoned or forcibly recruited” if they returned home, the group added.
“They are political refugees facing persecution.”
The men have appealed the decision, and three of them will face their first sentencing on January 31 – during which a court will decide whether their case is “worthy of consideration,” their attorney, Lee, said.
If the court rules in their favor, the Justice Department must review the men’s applications for refugee status.
Conscription is a sensitive issue in South Korea, where military service is compulsory for all able-bodied males between the ages of 18 and 35.
Not even the country’s athletes or K-pop superstars are exempt from military service. Conscientious objection, illegal for decades, was not allowed until a landmark ruling in 2018. Religious groups, however, have continued to raise concerns about forms of “alternative service,” which involve three years of work in correctional facilities.