The Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training and the Vietnamese Embassy in South Korea are investigating 164 local students who have been reported to have vanished from Incheon National University, Yonhap News Agency reported.

According to the media, the university reported the case to police on December 10 in accordance with a law mandating universities to report foreign students dropping classes for 15 consecutive days.

Incheon National University, South Korea. Photo: Yonhap News

The students are among 1,800 Vietnamese students on a one-year Korean language training program at the university.

Police believe the missing students’ purpose of coming to South Korea was to remain illegally in the country and get a job after learning Korean for a short time.

South Korean residence law requires universities to report to police if foreign students are absent from school for more than 15 days, according to Yonhap.

“In order to take short-term language courses in South Korea, many students have to pay millions of won to brokers in Vietnam,” a spokesperson of Incheon National University was quoted by Yonhap as saying.
“They believe that they could get better pay doing being undocumented laborers in Korea. That’s why they fled school,” the spokesperson added.

According to Pham Quang Hung, head of the ministry’s International Cooperation Department, the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training is working closely with the Vietnamese Embassy in South Korea to handle the situation.

Hung noted that the department will find out how the students came to South Korea for study.
The Ministry of Education and Training is building a software system on overseas study management which will be applied nationwide. The personal information of students who are sent to study overseas through organizations and companies will be recorded, he said.

Hung, however, mentioned difficulties managing those who go abroad to study by themselves.