By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter

A U.S. Army major has claimed non-command sponsored families are hurt at what they see as unfair practices employed by U.S. Forces Korea in the ongoing Department of Defense (DoD) Dependent school row.

Mark Gardner, who tried to enroll his 5-year-old daughter in preschool at the Yongsan Army Garrison in Seoul, saw her put on a waiting list after being denied a spot because he is not command-sponsored.

Gardner and his Korean wife wanted to send their daughter to other international schools here, but high tuition fees proved a burden.

Their daughter is now attending a Korean school and Gardner is worried that his daughter will not be able to communicate with him in English.

The couple was left shocked after learning that Korean nationals who are unaffiliated with the U.S. military are attending the school, as reported by The Korea Times Jan 22.

Gardner said non-command sponsored families are ``really hurt by the unfair practices'' by U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), claiming they are being discriminated against.

His wife said the school is failing to serve its original purpose.

``I don't understand what DoD schools here are for. I heard some Korean-Americans working in the U.S. Army adopt Korean children to enroll them in DoD schools. What if the adopted children are command-sponsored?'' Mrs. Gardner told The Korea Times in a telephone interview.

His wife said her friend, who is also married to an American soldier based in the United States, wants to come to Korea but is hesitant over worries about her children's education.

``While she and her husband are waiting for command-sponsored status, they doubt they can enroll children at a DoD school in Korea even after being command-sponsored as they know about the corruption here.''

Who Is Lying?

Earlier, DoD School-Korea announced that Korean students who obtained a ``waiver'' issued by the Korean Ministry of Education can attend the school and the DoD Education Activity (DoDEA), headquarters of the DoD schools in the United States confirmed the possibility of enrollment of Korean nationals.

``It is possible to enroll in our schools as a Korean national with the appropriate documentation. There must be space available for their enrollment, tuition must be paid, and documentation must be provided from the local education officials. This is true for any country in which we operate DoD Schools,'' said Frank O'Gara, educational communication officer of the DoDEA, in an email to the paper.

``The reality is that space is not often available for tuition students because we have large enrollments of space-required children. You asked me if we had turned away any space-required students. No space-required children are ever denied enrollment in our schools,'' he said.

However, the Korean education ministry is claiming that attendance of Korean nationals at the school, itself, is illegal under the Education Law and the ministry has never issued ``waiver'' documents.

The ministry has already contacted DoD School-Korea to verify the ``waiver" documents and confirm no Korean students are allowed to enroll in the American schools. The school asked the ministry to talk to its headquarters in the United States.

``I think the American schools are lying. How the headquarters in the United States can confirm the authenticity of the documents that the U.S. school here is keeping on file,'' said Lee Ji-sun, an official at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. ``We will definitely confirm it with them.''

In the meantime, the enrollment of Korean nationals at the American school is also against DoDEA regulations.

But, according to the regulations, dependents of foreign nationals ― which would include a Korean child adopted by Korean-American soldiers ― are permitted to enroll when there is no objection from the host nation and when such inclusion does not displace or prevent inclusion of U.S. citizen-sponsored minor dependents seeking admission on the same basis at the same time.

kswho@koreatimes.co.kr