South Korean students warned over posts amid US crackdown

President Donald Trump’s administration is raising scrutiny over the social media posts of South Korean students in the United States or who plan to study there, the students and agencies that support them said.

That has triggered concerns for parents of students studying or planning to study in the United States. South Korean students are the third-largest among international students in the US, behind those from India and China.

The US administration ordered its missions abroad to stop scheduling new appointments for student and exchange visitor visa applicants as the State Department prepared to expand social media vetting of foreign students, according to an internal cable seen by Reuters on Tuesday.

The Trump administration has sought to ramp up deportations and revoke student visas as part of wide-ranging efforts to meet its hardline immigration agenda.

“My clients, parents are calling me constantly today to figure out what is going on,” said Park Hyuntae, head of Worldnet US Overseas Edu Center, an agency in Seoul that assists South Korean students.

“Those who already scheduled those interviews and will apply for interviews both are worried, nervous, but cancellations of existing interviews haven’t happened yet as far as I know.” Park said the visa interview pause could cause delays in starting the school year, and that he was advising clients to be cautious over what they post online.

“I am telling them, especially male students, do not post anything extreme or disgusting on social media, like pictures of grenades or weapons,” he said.

An email reviewed by Reuters from a liberal arts college told students overseas that scheduled visa interviews might be postponed and suggested they gave their “socials a little attention.”

Stiff competition to get into South Korea’s top universities has driven many students to study abroad, according to the US International Trade Administration.

One South Korean student who studies in the United States said he had friends who were unable to schedule visa interviews, and that he was concerned about his own plans to try to work in the United States after graduation.

“I think what is now the United States is a lot different than the United States in the past,” he said, asking not to be identified.

South Korea’s leading presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party will seek a personal phone call with President Donald Trump, if elected, as the first step in engaging with Washington, Lee’s foreign policy adviser said on Wednesday.

Wi Sung-lac, national security adviser to Lee, made the comment when asked about Lee’s plans for the first move in trade talks with the United States, at a briefing held for foreign media in Seoul.

In a separate development, the US State Department has ordered the suspension of student visa processing in the latest escalation of a Trump administration crackdown on foreign students criticised on Wednesday by China.

Trump’s administration is seeking unprecedented control over leading US universities, including revoking foreign student visas and deporting some of those involved in protests against the war in Gaza.

A cable signed on Tuesday by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and seen by AFP orders embassies and consulates not to allow “any additional student or exchange visa... appointment capacity until further guidance is issued.”

The government plans to ramp up vetting of the social media profiles of international applicants to US universities, the cable said.

Rubio earlier rescinded hundreds of visas and the Trump administration has moved to bar Harvard University from admitting non-Americans.

China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning on Wednesday said Beijing urged Washington to “safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of international students, including those from China.”

Hundreds of thousands of Chinese students attend US universities, long viewed by many in China as beacons of academic freedom and rigour. The sweeping US measures have resulted in foreign governments moving to snap up affected students, with Japan and Hong Kong urging local universities to take in more international applicants.

Reuters