Article 1 of the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees as amended by the 1967 Protocol provides the definition of a refugee:

"A person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.."

A Seoul court has ruled in favour of a lawsuit filed by a Pakistani man who had his initial application turned down by the Justice Ministry.

According to the state-run Yonhap News Agency, the man had petitioned the government for refugee status in February of last year but was rejected by the Justice Ministry four month later for not meeting the criteria of a "well-founded fear of being persecuted."

The ministry’s decision was overturned by the Seoul Administrative Court which said that should he be repatriated "there is a high likelihood that the plaintiff will be subject to persecution by the Pakistani government and Muslim society simply because he is gay."

The man was quoted by the agency on condition of anonymity as saying: "My life, as a homosexual, was in danger in my country.”

“My family and relatives were my enemy. They said I was insulting my family, Islam and my country and threatened that they would report me to police," he said.

The agency further added that South Korea signed onto the U.N. Convention and Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees in 1992. Since then, 2,413 foreigners have applied for refugee status and 145 were granted asylum. The first approval was in 2001 for an Ethiopian male.