Non-politicized places: Examining the international source of anti-refugee attitudes

While refugees and immigration have been heavily politicized in popular host countries, politics are still in flux in countries with little refugee inflows. How do natives respond to refugee inflows in the absence of clear political cues? We examine this question using a case of the unexpected arrival of Yemeni refugees in South Korea, an ethnically homogeneous country with limited political discussion on refugees. Using supervised text analysis of over 150,000 posts on social media, we show that the arrival of refugees led to a significant rise in engagement and negative attitudes towards refugees without partisan polarization. In the absence of domestic partisan cues, individuals turned to international events, particularly the 2015 European refugee crisis, to express negative attitudes toward incoming Yemeni refugees in Korea. These findings broaden our understanding of refugee reception beyond popular host countries and demonstrate how backlash against refugees can spread globally.