Uzbek students enrolled in Hanshin University’s Korean Language Institute are driven to Incheon International Airport on Nov. 27. (still from video provided by Hanshin University)
Hanshin University in South Korea is at the center of a scandal after forcibly ejecting 22 international students to their home country of Uzbekistan during the middle of the school semester. The university stated that the students voluntarily boarded the return flight, but students told the Hankyoreh that, despite having no authority to do so, the university used physical force to deport them.The Uzbekistan Embassy in Seoul has been alerted of the situation and is trying to get to the bottom of the matter with the university and the Ministry of Justice. There are signs that this could mushroom into a diplomatic conflict.An investigation by the Hankyoreh on Monday found that 23 Uzbekistan students studying at Hanshin University’s Korean Language Institute in Osan, Gyeonggi Province, boarded a bus on the morning of Nov. 27 after being told by the school that they had to go to the immigration office to receive their alien registration cards.Instead of going to the immigration office in Pyeongtaek, the bus picked up private security escorts at Hwaseong’s Byeongjeom Station and headed straight to Incheon International Airport. Once at the airport, the school staff and security escorts put all the students on a pre-booked flight home, except for one who appealed to the staff about health problems.According to the international students, while aboard the bus, school staff members told them that if they were to go to the immigration office now, they would go to jail. “You have to leave now to come back to Korea,” the staff reportedly said. They also confiscated the students’ cell phones with the help of the private security officers.The school expelled all language course students from Uzbekistan on the same day for failing to submit immigration documents, leaving the dormitory without permission, having a poor attitude toward coursework, and acting in a manner inconsistent with the university’s values.“We led the students to leave the country under unavoidable circumstances,” was Hanshin University’s explanation.“On Nov. 6, the immigration office run by the Ministry of Justice asked for the students’ bank balance certificates, and most of the students did not meet the conditions of their stay. We were worried that if we informed them, they would run away and become illegal immigrants,” the school stated. The university said it was concerned that if the students ran off and became undocumented, the school would be disadvantaged in future recruitment of international students.
