"In
Afghanistan, you can't do activities as freely as men do, and
it's satisfying to do Taekwondo without a hijab in Korea right
now," the girl told reporters after a Taekwondo class on
Wednesday.
She is one of nearly 400 Afghan evacuees who arrived in Seoul in
August under a special programme that aims to grant long-term
residency to Afghans and their families who provided special
service to South Korea.
Along with other refugees who spoke to reporters, the girl was
not identified by age or name under an agreement with South
Korean government officials.
The Ministry of Justice said it was giving the refugees Korean
language classes as part of a "Social Integration Program," and
all had received alien registration cards.
They were currently residing in processing facilities, officials
said.
"Most of my experience living in Afghanistan so far has been
war, and when I listened to the history I heard from my parents,
I only heard about war," one boy at the Taekwondo class told
reporters. "Now, life in Korea is stable and I am enjoying
life."
(Reporting by Josh Smith, additional reporting by Sunghyuk An;
editing by Jane Wardell)
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