Death threat leveled at ATEK

[Update: The Joongang Ilbo reports on this here.]

From the Korea Herald:

The president of the Association of English Teachers in Korea received an anonymous e-mail threatening his death and accusing him of committing sex crimes after rumors of a former member of ATEK were posted online.

Members of ATEK received two e-mails, one containing threats and another with an image apparently taken from a Naver Cafe post, but with ATEK president Greg Dolezal's picture added.

"I have organized the KEK (Kill White in Korea). This group of people is about 200 in anywhere in Korea," the e-mail read. "We will gonna start to kill and hit White (expletives) english spectrum from this Chirstmas. Don't make a fuss in there, just get out."

Not big on white Christmases, I guess.

Dolezal said he was taking all legal steps possible. Gimhae Police Department is investigating the case, and Dolezal said he was happy with how they were dealing with the situation.

"The detectives there and the foreign affairs liaison have been very cooperative and seem extremely keen to do something about it," he said.

It's good to know the police are being helpful. The article is a little muddled, but it seems, judging by the use of English, (ie. "Remember: Not all English teachers are bad, but this one is horrible" and "I hope you speak English") that a native-speaker of English sent AES information posted on an AFEK [and currently also an ATEK] member's blog earlier this year which listed alleged misconduct by a former ATEK member, though the 'former' status was not mentioned on the AES post. As the article tells us, this information was

posted on Anti-English Spectrum at 9:30 p.m. on Monday. The threatening e-mail was sent just three hours later.[...]

The threatening e-mail contained what appear to be screenshots from this post with a picture of Dolezal added, and made the above accusations against him.[...]

A post condemning the death threats and explaining that Dolezal had nothing to do with the allegations was put up after The Korea Herald contacted the AES manager about the threatening e-mail.[...]

The AES cafe manager would not provide The Korea Herald directly with a statement on the death threat e-mail. "However strained relations may be, we need to maintain basic human decency," the notice on the AES website read. "We cannot forgive the person who sent this threatening mail. If we find that person we will definitely report them to the police," it added further down.

The person that issued the death threat sent an apology -- after the notice was posted on AES -- but remained anonymous and said he was motivated by some English teachers' "immoral behaviors."

"He continued to use hateful language," said Dolezal of the apology. "He alluded to the fact that he's not going to stop."

Over at the Marmot's Hole, Peter Kim cut and pasted a message from Lee Eun-ung to innocent teachers and asked for their cooperation in turning in bad teachers, and in return, he says "I will devote myself to improving your image. I await your call.”

I guess he meant himself only, and not the rest of AES, seeing as when an informant decided to take him up on his offer, ATEK received death threats. I have to say, I really hope death isn't the only way foreign English teachers can improve their image.