Following the impeachment of South Korea’s president, international students at The New School from the East Asian country are stuck between growing political conflict in both the United States and their home country.
On Friday, Dec. 9, South Korea’s parliament impeached its first female president, Park Geun Hye, after a scandal surfaced in November about her controversial relationship with Choi Soon-Sil, the daughter of a religious cult leader. Hundreds of thousands of South Korean citizens flooded the streets in protest of Park’s presidency. Park has formally apologized four times since the scandal broke.
According to the BBC, this relationship has led to accusations against Choi of abusing her presidential connections. Choi is accused of pressuring companies for millions of dollars to go towards her two non-profit foundations and receiving confidential government documents about ministerial candidates and North Korea from Park.
Due to parliament’s decision, Park’s presidential powers have been suspended until the nation’s Constitutional Court decides to permanently remove her from office. Then, South Korea will have 60 days to hold another election for a new president.
According the the latest data from The New School in 2014, South Korea is the second country where the greatest number of international students are from, after China. The New School Free Press went out to speak to a few to hear their thoughts on the divisive U.S. presidential election and the political turmoil they will soon be returning to.
Seung Won is the Video Editor for the New School Free Press and currently a senior at Lang majoring in Journalism+Design and minoring in Visual Studies. Born and raised in North Jersey, Seung Won has embraced and mastered the commute into the city, seamlessly weaving through crowds and covering miles of distance without breaking a sweat. When not in transit, Seung Won likes playing music on his guitar, sipping through several cups of coffee, and chillin’ with his cat on the weekends.
