Abstract

This article analyzes the experiences of asylum seekers from Yemen who entered Jeju Island in 2018, based on Jørgen Bærenholdt’s concept of governmobility and mobile ethnography proposed by Mimi Sheller and John Urry. How state and non-state agents regulated the mobility of Yemeni asylum seekers, how techniques of governmentality were used, and how they internalized the discourse, norms, and ‘truths’ generated during this process are examined. The article also draws attention to how the asylum seekers’ subjectification affected their own mobilities. The experiences analyzed through the lens of mobilities reveal the power dynamics that reflect the hierarchical relations caused by their dependence on state and non-state agents. At the same time, the article illustrates how Yemeni asylum seekers are by no means simple receivers of the state and non-state agents’ governmobility strategies, but are agents themselves that can challenge top-down control and create their own spaces and social relations. Despite heated debate sparked by the presence of Yemeni asylum seekers in Jeju Island in the summer of 2018, their voices have been absent in public discussions. By shedding light on human rights issues such as injustice, exclusion, and discrimination, the mobile ethnography of Yemeni asylum seekers provides an opportunity to reflect on South Korea’s refugee policies from a critical viewpoint.