Hanshin University’s campus in Osan, Gyeonggi Province. (Lee Jun-hee/The Hankyoreh)

Hanshin University formally apologized for an incident involving the apparent forced expulsion of Uzbek language students from Korea. The apology came four days after the Hankyoreh’s initial report on the story.

In a statement published Friday on the university’s official website, Hanshin’s president, Kang Sung-young, referred to having “troubled all of you with the recent events involving the departure of language institute students.”

“I sincerely apologize once again to the students who departed and to everyone who loves Hanshin,” he wrote.

The formal apology came four days after the Hankyoreh published its first report on Dec. 11, sparking controversy over the school’s apparent forced deportation of students from Uzbekistan.

Kang explained, “The students in question had already been denied a visa extension by the presiding office of immigration and had to leave the country as a result.”

“Accordingly, their tuition was refunded, and these measures were taken in the interest of providing an opportunity for them to return again,” he added.

“If the methods and processes were ultimately incorrect, I can offer no excuses,” he continued.

Kang went on to pledge that the university would “carry out a thorough investigation of this incident and implement supplementary institutional measures.”

“Through this, we will establish preventive measures to ensure that nothing like this happens again, and we will do our utmost to protect the welfare and interests of all our school’s members,” he added.

On Nov. 27, Hanshin University had students from Uzbekistan at its language learning institute board a bus by misleading them into believing they were traveling to the local immigration office to pick up their residence cards. They were then taken to Incheon International Airport, where 22 of them were forced to leave South Korea.

In the process, the university enlisted the services of personnel from a private security firm, confiscated the students’ cell phones, and made threatening remarks. Previously, the university had insisted that the students had “left the country of their own volition.”

“Shameful” reads a message on a phone held by a Hanshin University student participating in a prayer gathering at the school’s Gyeonggi campus in Osan on Dec. 13 to denounce the forced expulsion of international students from the country. (Shin So-young/The Hankyoreh)

The incident is currently being investigated by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea and the Osan Police Station in Gyeonggi Province. The students themselves are considering lodging an additional petition with the human rights commission.

“The school is still falsely insisting that the students ‘had no choice but to leave the country,’” said Erkinjon Shokirov, the 30-year-old husband of the student who first submitted a petition to the NHRCK, in an interview with the Hankyoreh.

The expulsion of students from the country “was just an arbitrary decision by the school,” he stressed, adding that he would “continue to fight to bring the entire process to light and determine responsibility.”

The full text of the Hanshin University president’s statement on the school’s official homepage is printed below in translation.

President’s statement on the departure of language institute students

To all of you who love Hanshin University,

Our university has troubled all of you with the recent events involving the departure of language institute students. I offer my sincerest words of apology for disappointing and upsetting all of you who love Hanshin University with this unfortunate episode.

The students in question had already been denied a visa extension by the presiding office of immigration and had to leave the country as a result. Accordingly, their tuition was refunded, and these measures were taken in the interest of providing an opportunity for them to return again. If the methods and processes were ultimately incorrect, I can offer no excuses. I sincerely apologize once again to the students who departed and to everyone who loves Hanshin.

I promise that our university will carry out a thorough investigation of this incident and implement supplementary institutional measures. Through this, we will establish preventive measures to ensure that nothing like this happens again, and we will do our utmost to protect the welfare and interests of all our school’s members.

December 15, 2023

President, Hanshin University

By Lee Jun-hee, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]

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