hankyoreh

“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)

As Hanshin University is wrapped in controversy over its forced deportation of Uzbek students, students organized a prayer service Wednesday to denounce the university leadership.

More than 70 students attended the prayer service, which was held at 4:30 pm in front of the main building at the Hanshin University campus in Osan, Gyeonggi Province. The students sang praise songs and offered up prayers on behalf of the forcibly repatriated Uzbek students in front of an altar bearing ceremonial candles.

The students at the prayer service angrily asked how such a thing could have happened at Hanshin University, which played a central role in South Korea’s democratization movement.

“God’s teachings are simple. He tells us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Foreigners are people, too — they’re our neighbors. It’s baffling how Hanshin University, of all places, could have kicked out foreign students like this,” said Lee Sang-hun, a 22-year-old freshman theology major.

“The students from Uzbekistan came to Hanshin University for the same reason as any of us, to exercise their right to learn. But the university used a private security firm to confiscate the students’ mobile phones and then made threats about their status and tuition. The university’s claim that it was trying to keep the students from becoming illegal aliens is an excuse, as well as a discriminatory statement,” said Choi Min-u, a 32-year-old sophomore also majoring in theology.

“No one wants to study at a university that first praises Jesus for reaching out to the common people and then engages in this kind of behavior,” Choi added.

The demonstrators released a statement Wednesday called “Hanshin University students are angered about the measures taken to force Uzbek students to leave the country.”

In the statement, they called for an official apology from the president of the university, Kang Seong-yeong, and demanded that the university explain how and why the decision to deport the Uzbek students had been made, tabulate the damage suffered by the deported students and provide restitution, and commit to preventing such an incident from recurring.

By Lee Jun-hee, staff reporter

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