Description
South Korea has ratified the Asia-Pacific Regional Convention on the Qualifications in Higher Education in 2018 (also known as the Tokyo Convention). The Tokyo Convention emphasizes that the higher education qualifications of refugees should be recognized as widely as possible unless there is a substantial difference from the qualification obtained in their origin country. It also states that even in cases where there is no documented evidence of their qualifications, refugees, displaced persons and persons in a refugee-like situation should have access to a higher education program for recognition of their qualification for employment activities. Furthermore, obtaining a higher education qualification should be allowed through non-traditional modes such as prior learning and so on. The Tokyo Convention focuses on fairness, consistency, transparency and credibility for refugees in recognition of qualifications in higher education.
While the Tokyo Convention is widely respected for its recognition of refugees’ education credentials throughout eight State Parties, it inevitably runs into some difficulties in South Korea when faced with the conflicting refugee system between North and South Korea. The South Korean government ratified the North Korean Refugees Protection and Settlement Support Act in 1997 after large numbers fled famine in the North. This act includes its own qualification recognition policy for North Korean refugees, and it plays an important role for North Korean refugees settling down in South Korean society. This paper, therefore, seeks to understand better the North Korean refugee system in South Korea and its limitations with regard to the Asia Pacific Regional Convention on the Qualifications in Higher Education. Moreover, it offers policy prescription for the greater influx of refugees to South Korea.
