'I Want to Strike it Rich in Seoul Too'

The French foreign language teacher scandal of 1984

Prelude 1: The 1983 Law "Limiting Aliens' Residence Period" and banning "unqualified" foreigners from working.

Part 1: Le Monde and what came before
Part 2: Korea is "Ali Baba's" Cave
Part 3: Seoul Should not be a Workplace for Parisians
Part 4: In private foreign language classes, there are a lot of ‘fraud teachers’
Part 5: Jibberish
Part 6: 'I Want to Strike it Rich in Seoul Too' - Continuous Job Inquiries by the French
Part 7: Foreigners Enjoy Better Life With Mother Tongues
Part 8: Foreigners and Foreign Languages
Part 9: Sickening Face
Part 10: Barking Up the Wrong Tree
Part 11: The First Sanctions on Foreigners Working Illegally
Part 12: All Private Lessons by Foreigners Prohibited
Part 13: Institutes Asked to Hire Eligible Foreign Teachers
Part 14: "Seoul Wind"
Part 15: Foreign Language Teacher Shortage
Part 16: Troublemaking vagabond foreigner story finally airs

Part 6: "'I Want to Strike it Rich in Seoul Too' - Continuous Job Inquiries by the French"


I'm doing things out of order again, as part five still needs a sentence or two translated. Here is the article that appeared in the Joongang Ilbo on August 22, 1984, on page 7. The Joongang Ilbo is the paper that really pushed this story along - note that it was written by Joo Won-saeng, the Joongang Ilbo's Paris correspondent who first broke the Le Monde story in Korea. Many thanks to Song Joosub and Benjamin Wagner for help with the translation.

"'I Want to Strike it Rich in Seoul Too' - Continuous Job Inquiries by the French"

Places in Paris like the Korean Embassy have been flooded with job inquiries by French people hoping to work in Seoul after reading a recent article in Le Monde about the many French people easily making a fortune and enjoying a swanky lifestyle in Korea, which is in the midst of a French language boom.

A sociology professor working at the Pompidou Center asked a Paris Korean Cultural Center official for job placement in Korea, and five Parisians qualified to teach French language and wanting to work as French teachers in Seoul left resumes at the embassy education office.

At places like the Paris branches of Korean broadcasters and the Korea Exchange Bank, phone inquires from French people hoping to find work in Seoul were constant, and on the 20th the embassy received continuous phone inquiries from areas outside Paris such as Lyon.

Paris – Ju Won-sang, special correspondent

As I said, the Joongang Ilbo, and especially this correspondent, have really pushed this along, starting by reporting on the Le Monde ('Foreigners are making money and living a dream life in Korea language teaching, and even marry Korean women!'), then reported on the 'fraud teachers' in Korea ('They're unqualified vagabonds who are shifty and get lots of girls!'), and now on the interest (likely exaggerated to a great degree) of such vagabonds in France in coming to Korea ('We will soon be flooded with them!'), even though the article mentions that the teachers leaving resumes are actually all qualified...