A string of visa denials preventing about 45 overseas students from enrolling at a vocational high school in South Jeolla Province has cast a harsh light on structural weaknesses in Korea’s system for admitting international students to secondary schools. As the government increasingly casts the retention of international students as a remedy for demographic and economic stagnation outside major cities, calls are mounting for more coordinated policies linking immigration and education authorities. Jeonnam Mirae International High School in Gangjin, South Jeolla Province, is set to open on March 9 with only six students, after the Ministry of Justice denied visas for incoming international students, barring them from entering the country. The school had drawn attention as the nation’s first alternative vocational high school designed for integrated students from migrant backgrounds and overseas recruits. According to the Jeollanamdo Office of Education, the school was expecting 45 overseas students from four countries — 13 from Vietnam, 15 from Mongolia, nine from Kazakhstan and eig