Aged between 16 and 22 years old, eight students from the college contacted the Thai Embassy in South Korea for help and they were flown back to Thailand earlier this week.

On Wednesday, they lodged a complaint officially with a government complaint-receiving centre.

“They hugged us, kissed our cheeks and touched our thighs,” one of the female students said, referring to male Korean staff at the farms where they were posted.

She said they initially believed their harassers’ claim that it was a South Korean tradition to show non-sexual affection towards students.

“But after a few weeks, we noticed that South Korean women did not face such treatment,” she said.

Her group, which comprised five male and three female students, started their internships at South Korean farms a few months ago.

Suthin Anuchiworakan, a male student in the programme, said he had been subjected to hard labour such as carrying heavy wood and metal. “Really, I don’t think they provided us with training to enrich our experiences. It’s like they want to use our labour,” he said.

Their college has established a committee to look into the complaints, while the Northern Institute of Vocational Education in Agriculture set up another fact-finding committee to conduct a parallel probe.

Charoen Chuamuangphan, director of the Chiangrai College of Agriculture and Technology, said yesterday that the eight students were the third batch of interns from his institute to go to South Korea.

He said the first two batches did not include females.

“We have signed an agreement with a South Korean firm and the Chiang Rai Office of Agriculture and Cooperatives,” he said.

The college’s deputy director, Sukij Malairungsakul, said he had checked farms in South Korea before allowing students to go there.

Watcharapon Singhakan, who heads the college’s plant science division, said members in the first two batches did not have a problem during their internship because they received a one-month language class and all of them were men.