[Anchor]

At Yeomyung School in Seoul, an alternative educational institution for North Korean defector youth, an incident unfolded where the principal and local residents knelt before each other in appeal. Conflicts are escalating over a plan to build a school building in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, between the school asking the community to accept the students and residents opposing it.

Reporter Kim Ayeong reports.

[Reporter]

As a woman wearing a sky-blue jacket falls to her knees, attendees on the opposite side scramble to kneel as well.

["Please, leave (this place). Really. (Everyone, we must kneel too.)"]

A resident briefing session held yesterday (September 17) evening at Yeomyung School, an alternative school for North Korean defector youth in Gangseo-gu, Seoul.

The woman who knelt first is the school's principal, and those who knelt alongside her are nearby residents.

The school pleaded for residents to accept the construction of a school building on the site of a closed school in Gangseo-gu, while nearby residents pushed back, insisting it cannot happen.

["Oppose! Oppose!"]

Yeomyung School, where about 100 students are enrolled, has been temporarily leasing and using this closed school facility since August 2023.

As the temporary lease period expires in February next year, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education and other authorities began pushing forward a plan to construct a permanent building on the same site.

The plan is to build the Seoul Early Childhood Education Promotion Institute on 90% of the site and Yeomyung School on the remaining 10%, while separating the flow of traffic between the two facilities. However, nearby residents argue that only the Early Childhood Education Promotion Institute should be built.

[Mr. Lee / Head of Emergency Committee Opposing Yeomyung School Construction : "(The education office) entered after promising us residents that it would be a temporary use. No facility other than an early childhood facility for children should be allowed in. (Hear, hear!)"]

Some residents are in favor of establishing a permanent home for Yeomyung School.

[Mr. Kim / Resident in favor : "It's not like exceptionally different people are gathering (at Yeomyung School). Anyway, (I hope people look at this) with an open heart."]

Yeomyung School previously sought to relocate to Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul, in 2019, but the plan fell through due to opposition from local residents.

[Cho Myung-sook / Principal of Yeomyung School : "These are children that our community should embrace, so I hope people could give them a little chance."]

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education stated that the site was selected from among seven candidate locations based on a comprehensive assessment of project feasibility, and pledged to continue communicating with residents.

(Video by Cho Chang-hyun | Video Editing by Choi Jin-hwa)