Hanshin University in South Korea’s Gyeonggi Province has become the center of controversy after it was found that 22 Uzbek students were forcibly sent home, Hankyoreh reported.
The university says the students boarded the plane voluntarily to return to Uzbekistan, but Uzbeks told the publication they were expelled from the country. The local police have launched an investigation into the university.
The embassy of Uzbekistan in Seoul is negotiating with South Korean law enforcement agencies regarding the incident.
According to the Hankyoreh publication, 23 citizens of Uzbekistan studying at the Korean Language Institute at Hanshin University were put on a bus on the morning of November 27 and taken to Inchon International Airport.
At first, students were told to go to the immigration office to get a foreign national registration card. However, the bus picked up employees of a private security agency in Hwaseong and went straight to the international airport. There, the institute’s employees and guards put the students on a pre-booked flight to Uzbekistan. A student who asked for help because of his health got off the flight. The rest flew to Uzbekistan.
According to the students, they were told on the way to the airport that they were being deported to Uzbekistan. Employees of the institute explained that some Uzbeks have problems with their documents, and if they go to the immigration office now, they will be imprisoned. “If you want to return to Korea later, you should fly now,” they said. After that, employees of the institute took away the students’ phones with the help of guards.
On the same day, Hanshin University issued an order to expel Uzbek students “for not presenting immigration documents, leaving the dormitory without permission, having a bad attitude towards education and behavior that does not correspond to the values of the university”.
Hanshin University’s Hankyoreh reported that in November, the immigration service requested the students’ bank account statements and found that many of the students did not comply with the conditions of their stay in the country.
“We were afraid that if we told the students about this, they would run away and become illegal immigrants. The educational institution will be at a disadvantage in attracting foreign students in the future,” explained the university.
But educational institutions do not have the right to deport foreign students. This was announced by the head of the Friend Center, which provides legal advice to migrants, Cho Yong Kwan.
