The government granted refugee status to 10 asylum-seekers last year, the lowest number in the past six years, while rejecting the applications of 298 foreigners, the Justice Ministry's Immigration Bureau announced Friday.
The bureau said it received applications for refugee status from 336 people, including 111 Myanmars, 77 Turks -- mainly ethnic Kurds -- 25 Iranians and 22 Chinese. The figure was up 86 from the previous year.
The number of applicants was the second-largest in recent years and follows the 353 who applied for refugee status in 2001.
But the ministry accepted only 10 people as refugees, down from 14 the previous year. It granted special residency status to an additional 16 people based on humanitarian concerns, while turning down 298 applicants, the second-highest number ever.
Of those whose applications were rejected, 219 filed complaints asking the ministry to overturn its decision, but during 2003 the ministry did so in only four of those cases, while rejecting the complaints of 200 people, the ministry said.