Principal of North Korean defector school weeps, kneels in plea as civic groups push for permanent campus

Civic groups are urging the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education and the Seoul Metropolitan Council to proceed without delay with plans to build a permanent campus for Yeomgang School, an alternative school for North Korean defector youth, on its current site. Opposition from some nearby residents, however, shows no sign of abating, and the dispute is expected to continue.

The Civic Action in Support of Building Yeomgang School on Its Current Site held a press conference Wednesday morning in front of the Seoul Metropolitan Council building in Jung-gu, calling on authorities to move forward with the project. "Delaying the process because of opposition is not neutrality — it is abandonment of the project," the group said.

Participants held signs reading "Origin cannot block learning," "Youth who defected from North Korea are Seoul citizens too," and "Twenty-two years of wandering," expressing their support for the school.

The group called on the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education to proceed as planned with construction under a four-party MOU and to publicly disclose the schedule and status of remaining administrative steps, including a public architecture review, an internal investment assessment and a public property management plan. It also urged the Seoul Metropolitan Council's education committee to deliberate and vote on the public property management plan related to the Yeomgang School building within its November session.

Yeomgang School opened in Gwanak-gu in 2004 and has since relocated multiple times, including a stint in Myeong-dong in Jung-gu. A planned move to Eunpyeong-gu in 2019 fell through due to resident opposition, and in August 2023 the school moved into the former Yeomgang Elementary School building on a temporary basis. Its current lease is set to expire in February 2027.

The school and related agencies reviewed more than 100 candidate sites across Seoul, including public land, idle school facilities and private buildings. On July 24, the Ministry of Unification, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, Hyundai Motor Group and Yeomgang School signed a four-party MOU to build a permanent school on the former Yeomgang Elementary School site.

Under the plan, the new Yeomgang School building would occupy about 10.8 percent of the 11,076.5-square-meter site. The roughly 16 billion won ($11.9 million) construction cost would be covered entirely by private funding — 10 billion won raised by Yeomgang School and 6 billion won contributed by Hyundai Motor Group. The completed building would be donated to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, with Yeomgang School operating it for 20 years.

Yeomgang School Principal Jo Myung-suk, who spoke at the press conference, said the students were not children to be feared but children just as lovable as any others who deserved to be loved. "Please help these children so they no longer flinch, avoid people or hide," she said.

At a second community information session held Sept. 17, some residents voiced opposition to the school's construction, calling on it to relocate. Jo had knelt on the floor that day and pleaded, "Please embrace our children. They have nowhere to go."

Eom Esther, a Yeomgang School alumna and head of the nonprofit Uniseed, also spoke at the event. "The students now attending Yeomgang School also need the opportunity to prepare for their own futures," she said. "Our students must be able to learn and grow in a place where they are welcomed."

Opposition to the construction on the current site, however, continues. An emergency committee of residents from nearby apartment complexes opposed to the school's construction has recently been collecting signatures on a petition against the new building. The committee cites three grounds for its opposition: what it calls "backroom administration" conducted without residents' consent, a failure to honor commitments made when the former Yeomgang Elementary School site was put to temporary use, and broken campaign pledges.

Residents contend that the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education promised in 2020, when Yeomgang Elementary School was closed, to establish a public kindergarten and an early childhood experience facility on the site — a promise they say was never kept. They also object to what they describe as the site being converted, without their consent, from a temporary three-year arrangement into a permanent home for Yeomgang School.

On the question of how the site should be used, the committee argued that the original plan called for an early childhood education center under the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, along with a children's experience facility. "Only if the center moves in as planned after the school's closure can this area develop into a place that truly serves early childhood education," it said.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has maintained that, as the owner of the closed school site, it holds the authority to determine how the land is used. Principal Jo also pushed back on the argument that resident consent is required. "When we signed the contract, we signed it with the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education — we never went to the residents to beg permission or ask forgiveness," she said. "The owner of the school site is the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, so I want to ask why, unlike with ordinary schools, only the vulnerable are being asked to win over residents."

The civic group plans to seek declarations of support from Gangseo-gu residents and prominent figures from various fields, and to request meetings with the Seoul superintendent of education and the chair of the Seoul Metropolitan Council's education committee. If a related agenda item is placed on the council's schedule, the group intends to attend the deliberations and make the outcome public.

"The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education must press ahead with its construction decision without wavering, and the Seoul Metropolitan Council's education committee must move swiftly through the relevant procedures," the group said. "We will continue our actions until the right to education of Yeomgang School students is guaranteed."