The National Human Rights Commission of Korea announced Monday that it has initiated an investigation into Hanshin University in Osan, Gyeonggi Province, after claims that the university's staff forced 23 students from Uzbekistan to leave Korea.
The NHRCK received a petition, lodged by the husband of one of the students, about the incident and referred it to the relevant department on Dec. 11.
"The investigation has just begun," an official from the NHRCK said Monday. The commission plans to examine whether any human rights violations occurred during the students' repatriations. The NHRCK refrained from providing further details about the case.
The incident happened on Nov. 27. News reports said 23 Uzbek students who were enrolled in its Korean language institute, were told to board a bus after they were allegedly falsely told they would be going to immigration to pick up their residence cards. However, the bus headed to Incheon International Airport and the university forced 22 of the students to leave the country by plane immediately. The tickets for the flights had been purchased by the university in advance. Only one student with health issues did not board the flight.
The school personnel on the bus reportedly told the students that they had to return home because they did not meet a requirement to stay in the country.
Foreign students are required to have 10 million won ($7,600) in a Korean bank during their stay to maintain their student visas, according to relevant guidelines by the Justice Ministry. However, most of the Uzbek students studying at Hanshin had accounts in Korea with balances below 10 million won, according to local reports.
Furthermore, it is alleged that the school personnel threatened the students during the bus ride by telling them that if they were to report the issue to immigration, they would be sent to prison, according to local reports.
The university was reportedly concerned that if many of its international students were stripped of their visas, the university might face disadvantages recruiting international students in the future.
Along with the NHRCK, the Osan police are separately conducting an investigation.
Hanshin University's president apologized following news reports Friday.
"Our university recently caused concern due to an incident involving our language school students, and we would like to offer our sincere apologies for disappointing everyone who loves Hanshin University," the university's president, Kang Sung-young, said in a statement on Friday.
"We had refunded their tuition, and our actions were (intended) to create a way for students to come back in the future," the statement said. "But if the method or process was wrong, there's no excuse for that."
The university maintained its stance that the students had to leave due to visa issues, conveying its position through the school's official website. The actions taken were preemptive measures to prevent potential disadvantages for other international students, it claimed. These disadvantages could include difficulty re-entering Korea in the future due to issues with immigration authorities resulting from non-compliance, according to the university's Office of International Affairs.
Meanwhile, Hanshin University students have organized an action group that has collected signatures from 1,800 individuals and 100 civic groups to protest the university's decision.
The husband of the international student who filed the complaint with the National Human Rights Commission told local media outlet The Hankyoreh, "The school continues to lie and say that the students 'Had no choice but to leave the country.' That was just an arbitrary decision by the school. We will continue to fight to reveal the entire process and hold people accountable."
