Juyoung Choi and Saad Ejaz have just completed their fellowship with the Pulitzer Center with a project that explores the lives of Yemeni refugees in South Korea.
Since civil war broke out in Yemen, three million Yemenis have been forced to leave the country in search of safety and security. In 2018, more than 500 Yemeni refugees arrived in Jeju Island, South Korea through a visa loophole, which sparked protests across the country.
Choi’s and Ejaz’s project ‘South Korea: Sanctuary Island’ tells the stories of Mohamed Ameen, a Yemeni refugee now married to a South Korean woman, and Mohammed Salem who escaped the civil war in Yemen with his wife and two children.
Home to Home: How a Yemeni Refugee Found Love in South Korea, is a documentary Choi and Ejaz produced, which takes a closer look at how Ameen met Ha Min-Kyung, who hired him as a chef. She wanted him to help run the new restaurant she had opened for the Muslim refugees from Yemen. As they worked together, Ameen and Min-Kyung fell in love and eventually got married. It will be screened as part of a film festival at the Pulitzer Center on September 24, 2020, followed by a panel discussion featuring Choi and Ejaz.
From Yemen: The Great Escape tells Salem’s harrowing story on how escaped the civil war – living illegally in Malaysia for years before his wife and two children joined him in South Korea.
The Pulitzer Center has awarded nearly 10 fellowships to Northwestern Qatar students since 2015, providing them with funding and support to report on global issues such as climate change, migration, and social injustice. In the past students have completed projects on the persecution of the Ahmadiyya community Pakistan, refugee children in Malaysia, and the effects of climate change in Visakhapatnam, India.
