By Philip ChungSusan Lim is a Korean-American who has lived in the United States. After graduating from high school, she wanted to study in Korea, the country of her parent’s birth.However, her hopes were dashed when she called the international admissions office of her preferred college about the application process.One of the people at the admissions office told her that Korean-Americans are not allowed to enter that school. Upon reading the admissions page, she read ``Applicants should be non-Korean.” She was confused at this policy.``Even though I have completed all of my education, the fact that my mom is Korean was all they needed to tell me. I found it odd and completely discriminatory,” Lim said.Susan is not alone. She is just one of countless number of foreign-born Koreans who face this kind of discrimination. Universities have turned away many foreign-born Koreans. The discrimination is not the fault of the school’s but the government’s legislation.Seoul adopted the legislation with the good intention of attracting talented foreign-born Koreans back to Korea as fellow Koreans. While this law has succeeded in reincorporating a number of foreign-born Koreans back into the country, this law has also kept away many foreign-born Koreans from entering the country.The National Assembly legalized dual citizenship for foreign-born Koreans last year. The law automatically considers them a Korean citizen without the approval and consent of the oversea Koreans.Being automatically considered a Korean citizen is a problem for people like Susan. Even though she was born in the United States and never set foot in Korea before, she is considered a Korean citizen by the Korean government.Therefore, she cannot receive a student visa from Korea’s immigration office or attend a Korean university as an international student. For Susan, she would have to go through a lengthy and hard process in order to renounce her Korean citizenship if she wants to study as a foreigner. However, this is not so simple for foreign-born Korean males.According to a Korean law in 2004, a dual citizen male cannot abandon his Korean nationality until he finishes mandatory military service. This would mean a Korean-American male born and lived in the United States, would first have to serve in the Korean military before renouncing his citizenship in order to receive a student visa and study at a Korean university as an international student.Because of this lengthy and complicated process, many foreign-born Koreans forfeit their dream of studying internationally.Stories are common of people who underwent this ordeal. One blogger posted, ``I was planning on going to Korea this semester, but I found out I too have Korean nationality (originally just American citizen) under the law. I cancelled all my plans to study in Korea.”Another also wrote, ``When I tried to apply for a student visa last year, I was told that I couldn't get one because I was already a Korean citizen. Nobody at the embassy made this known to me, simply assuming that I was not affiliated with Korea at all. I then underwent a process that took five months. For many of my other friends, it created major difficulties because they were now required to serve in a military for a country that they weren't familiar with, or whose language they knew.” This may sound logical to the politicians that supported this bill, but sounds incomprehensible to many Koreans born overseas.There are many foreign-born Koreans who feel discouraged from coming into Korea because of their dual citizenship.The government likes to brag about attracting tourists and foreigners. Under the dual citizenship law, the government silently sends the message to foreign-born Koreans, ``If you are not one of us, we do not want you here.”