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By Lee Tae-hoon
The recent deportation of Kim Min-woo, a 17-year-old Mongolian high school boy who had no state documentation, has raised the question as to whether children of illegal migrants should be denied the same right to attend school as Korean citizens.
Public opinion is clearly divided over the issue as seen from the host of comments netizens made after reading news articles on the Mongolian kid's forceful deportation.
A netizen with the screen name "Kwon" was bewildered to find out that his schoolmate got into trouble after volunteering to interpret for a local police office when a group of Mongolian migrants were taken into custody for a fight with Korean students over racial slurs.
"He used to attend the same school I attend. His Korean was so fluent that I hardly noticed that he was a Mongolian," he said.
Kwon also expressed strong displeasure over the police's handcuffing of his schoolmate and deporting him without giving sufficient thought over the future of the helpless migrant student.
Another schoolmate with the screen name, "Dani," left a short, but touching message on an online message board, "I miss you... my friend."
Many others were also sympathetic about Kim, arguing that he could have been a valuable asset to Korea, which suffers from a shortage of multilingual speakers as the country's economy becomes increasingly dependent on the global market.
"He has lived in Korea for 10 years and received formal education from the very first year in elementary school," a netizen identified as "Yoon" said. "You should be ashamed of yourself for kicking out a young student overnight because of having no legal documents."
Though many of Kim's classmates and those advocating school children's right to study regardless of legal status voice their strong disapproval over the Mongolian boy's sudden deportation, many other netizens supported the police's controversial action.
"Human rights should not be guaranteed to illegal migrants," a netizen identified as "comm" said. "If the country bends a rule to one person, law and order will be seriously compromised."
Another netizen, "mani," argued that Kim should be thankful to Korea for allowing him stay for 10 years without due legal documents.
"He will have trouble anyway in adjusting in Mongolia whether he leaves now or goes back to his home country after finishing his high school education," the netizen said.
"Do you really believe that it is appropriate for Korea to issue a citizenship and let him live forever here?"
"Pete" claimed that Korea should learn a lesson from the United States which he claims mercilessly cracks down on illegal migrants whether they are students or not.
"The United States strictly implements the law on illegal aliens whereas Korea is too lenient on them," he said.
Those supportive of Kim's deportation, however, appear to be unaware of the fact that Korea has adopted the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which calls for all youngsters under the age 18 to be given equal access to education regardless of legal status.
The United States, one of two UN members not to ratify the CRC, has stopped deportations of illegal immigrants who were brought into the country before they turned 16.
