A Seoul Neighborhood Doesn't Want a School for North Korean Teens Next Door

Discussion: The School Nobody Wants Next Door

Background Yeomyung School teaches teenagers who escaped from North Korea. Seoul's education office wants to build the school a permanent building in Gangseo District, on land where an old elementary school used to be. Some people who live nearby are against it. They say the government promised the land would only be used for a short time, not forever. The school has been forced to move several times before because of protests like this one. In September 2026, the two sides held a meeting. The school's principal knelt down and asked the residents to accept the students. About 100 people were in the room.

Vocabulary

• alternative school — a school outside the regular public system
• defector — someone who has left their country, often secretly
• NIMBY — "not in my backyard"; opposing something nearby that you might support elsewhere
• permanent campus — a building meant to be used long-term, not temporarily

Discussion questions

1. Should residents get a say in where a school for defector teenagers is built? Why or why not?
2. Is it different to protest this school compared to protesting, say, a new apartment tower? Why?
3. The lease on the school's current building runs out soon. Does that change how urgent this is?
4. If you were the principal, what would you say to the residents? If you were a resident, what would you say back?
5. Who "owns" a piece of land that used to be a public school — the neighborhood, the city, or the students who need it?