On Dec. 10, 2018, the SNU Diversity Council welcomed some special guests to its offices. Section Chief Yu Hong-yeol of the Gwanak Police Station Foreign Affairs Division and four of his team members at the “Police Desk” visited to meet with SNU Diversity Council staff. The Police Desk, which provides consultations in English, Chinese, and other foreign languages to international SNU students who have been the victims of crime or need related assistance, was established in Mar. 2017. While the two institutions had communicated before, this was the first time that the entire team participated in a meeting with the council’s staff. 

The Gwanak Police Station Foreign Affairs Division’s responsibilities include assisting with the establishment of multiculturalism and related public order issues in Gwanak-gu, assisting in cases of crimes or accidents involving foreigners, and providing security detail for visiting foreign dignitaries. The Police Desk has been working with SNU bodies with strong connections to the international members of the university community, such as the Office of International Affairs (OIA), the Language Education Institute (LEI), the College of Humanities International Office (CHIO), and the international Seoul National University College of Education (iSNUCE), and it has begun participating in the orientation program for new international students. It provided safety training to international members of the university community and their families in May and June of 2018, and has assisted with a safety initiative to fingerprint international children at SNU’s Center for Child Educare Service & Research. At the meeting, the Police Desk told the Diversity Council about frequently-occurring problems that international students face and situations in which they need help, and the two sides agreed to cooperate more closely going forward to develop innovative programs to assist foreign students.