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Nearly half a million South Koreans have signed a petition against their government’s refugee friendly migration policy.

520,000 people have signed a petition asking their government to “put Koreans before refugees” and are seeking to revoke the Yemenis refugee application.

Hank Kim, owner of Core Travel Agency, has posed that people are worried about how immigrants have lived in Europe.

He said: “Local people here are worried, we have all read about the problems that immigrants have caused in Europe – in Germany and France in particular – and we do not want that to happen here.”

He added: “It has become really bad in recent weeks and it is all because Jeju introduced a program that enabled people from 186 countries to come here without a tourist visa.”

There was also a protest in Seoul’s City Hall, on Saturday, where people gathered to march against the visa-waiver program.

The protest was staged against the Jeju Provincial Government’s (JPG) so-called “friendly” refugee policy, which is believed to allow “fake refugees” to enter the country.

One protester, Voice of Europe reports, said: “We urge the government to put Korean citizens before refugees.

“We are not against all refugees. But we should not accept foreigners who try to exploit the policy as a means of seeking economic interests and dodging the draft in their countries

The Financial Times reports that relief organisations have been threatened, after the march attracted hundreds.

Majid Sada'a, who arrived to Jeju after fleeing the Yemen civil war, said "We are afraid of the news and what people are saying."

The Yemen civil war has recently been described the the UN as the world's "worst humanitarian crisis". In his address to the Pledging Conference in Yemen, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said: "As the conflict enters its fourth year, more than 22 million people - three quarters of the population - need humanitarian aid and protection."