hankyoreh

Sehan University President Yi Seung-hoon and Timor-Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta shake hands for a photo marking a project between the school and country. (from Sehan University's official website)

The Hankyoreh’s investigation into a private Korean university’s scheme to illegally admit and lure foreign students into unsanctioned employment has uncovered evidence that a former South Korean ambassador to East Timor utilized personal connections in the country to facilitate the fraud. 

Sehan University, a small university in southwestern Korea, utilized the connections of the former ambassador, identified by the surname “Kim,” to arrange meetings with the president and high-level government officials in East Timor. The university deceived these government officials into believing that students from East Timor could study and work in South Korea simultaneously without any legal issues, enabling it to secure a large number of international enrollees from East Timor. 

Evidence also indicates that the East Timorese ambassador to South Korea mediated meetings with the students involved and acted as their guide in the country. The issue now has the potential to impact South Korea-East Timor relations. 

According to statements from Sehan University, the labor broker firm involved, and the former South Korean ambassador to East Timor gathered by the Hankyoreh on Monday, Sehan University President Yi Seung-hoon and university staff traveled to East Timor in July of last year. There, Yi and his staff met with President José Ramos-Horta and Maria Fernanda Lay, the president of East Timor’s national parliament. During their meeting, Yi told Ramos-Horta and Lay that the university wanted “more than 500 East Timorese students every year.” Yi also told them that the students would be “able to work while studying,” as well as that the school had secured approval from the local government and had secured special visas from the Ministry of Justice. Yi even went on a national radio broadcast in East Timor to announce major scholarship programs. 

Contrary to Sehan University’s claims, however, the East Timorese students had unwittingly broken the law the moment they enrolled at the university. The Ministry of Justice requires all international students to pay a semester’s tuition in full before enrollment. Yet the university provided the East Timorese students with forged admission documents before they had paid their tuition. This is when the labor broker firm stepped in to place students in jobs at local abalone farms in South Jeolla Province, despite the students not having legal work permits. 

The evidence paints a picture that Yi and the university staff lied to the president of East Timor and spread false information through local media. 

The former Korean ambassador to East Timor, Kim, served as the ambassador from December 2020 to December 2022. Kim utilized his local connections to arrange the meeting with the East Timorese president and the radio interview, essentially using his diplomatic bona fides for private purposes. 

During a meeting on July 10, 2023, a Sehan University professor who previously served as South Korea’s ambassador to East Timor surnamed Kim (left) sits with Sehan University President Yi Seung-hoon (center), and East Timor President José Ramos-Horta. (from Sehan University's official website)

The current Korean ambassador to East Timor expressed concerns about the legitimacy of the whole process to Kim. Kim apparently pressured the current ambassador to mobilize embassy personnel to help arrange Yi’s meeting with the East Timorese president in July 2023. The current ambassador repeatedly told Kim that using embassy staff to help Kim recruit local students for a private university was problematic, and that embassy staffers were uncomfortable with the situation. The ambassador also cautioned that if the Korean press discovered that public resources and personnel were utilized to benefit private interests, then the issue could erupt into a diplomatic issue.

The ambassador was particularly concerned about the involvement of a labor broker agency. The ambassador expressed concern that the president of East Timor was being exploited to promote an unaccredited recruitment program for foreign students by a private university that involved a private labor brokerage firm. 

Kim has claimed that he did not know that the East Timorese students’ entry into South Korea, enrollment at the school, and employment at local farms were illegal and illegitimate. When reached for comment by the Hankyoreh over the phone he acknowledged, “It’s true that the current ambassador in East Timor expressed concern, but that’s all been worked out.” 

“It was an official recruitment being conducted by a legitimate university, so I didn’t think there’d be any problem,” Kim claimed. 

“The entire thing was set up by Sehan University and the labor brokerage firm. I didn’t know anything.”  

Following the Hankyoreh’s first report on the scam on Friday, the East Timorese ambassador to South Korea is now considering launching an official investigation into the matter. The East Timor Embassy has acknowledged that they received complaints from students about the working conditions in the fish farms, but the embassy denies that it knew the students’ entry into South Korea and their enrollment at Sehan University were unlawful. 

By Lee Jun-hee, staff reporter

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