Hanshin University’s president apologized after reports that the university’s staff forced its Uzbek international students to leave Korea.

“Our university recently caused concern due to the 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.

The statement said that the local immigration office denied visa extensions for the students, and they thus had to leave the country.

“We had refunded their tuition, and our actions were something that happened under the pretext to create a way for students to come back in the future,” the statement said. “But if the method or process was wrong, we don’t have room for excuses.”

“Again, we send our sincere apologies to the students who left and all those who love Hanshin [University].”

On Nov. 27, 23 Uzbek students at Hanshin University’s Korean Language Institute were told to board a bus by university staff without being told where they were going. The students were later dropped off at Incheon International Airport and told to leave the country or face the authorities.

Among those who boarded the bus, only one stayed in Korea due to health issues.

A previous statement issued by the university said most of the students were told to leave because they failed to meet the minimum savings account requirements needed to maintain their student visas or faced dismissal due to academic penalties or criminal charges.

Kang added that the Christian university “promises to conduct a thorough investigation and improve its system so that similar situations won’t happen again.”

The Osan police are currently looking into the cases, as well as the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, which announced Friday that it launched an investigation into whether human rights have been violated in the process of deporting the Uzbek students.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]