Thursday, August 26, 2010

388 grams trumps 44 seeds

[Update: On second thought, I imagine the teacher was sent a 388 gram cake which contained pot, not that she was sent 388 grams of pot in a cake.]

Back in June, NoCut News reported on the "serious social problem" of English teachers in Jeju smuggling pot into the country, giving examples of three recent cases (though one was not ever described as an English teacher, but why let facts get in the way of a good "emerging social problem?"). In July, it was announced in Jeju media that one teacher who imported 44 pot seeds (via international mail, ordered from a UK website) was fined 5 million won. The other teacher mentioned in that NoCut News report, "J" was recently sentenced to 3 years in prison [suspended for 4 years] for importing 388 grams in a cake (sent by her mom, it was said), and once again it was reported by NoCut News (along with Jeju Ilbo, Jeju ui Sori and Yonhap).

What I find odd is that there have been several reports lately on the outcome of cases where teachers have been arrested, from the two cases above to the recent case of the Canadian teacher sentenced to 18 months in prison for "harassing" a young boy (the Korean articles use the word 성추행, or 'molestation'). This was reported by Yonhap, YTN, Herald Gyeongje, MBN, Segye Ilbo (twice), Financial News, News Hanguk, Kookmin Ilbo, Kuki News, City Shinmun, Herald SaengSaeng News, Seoul Gyeongje, Hanguk Ilbo, and the Chungcheong Ilbo (though it's worth noting is that I don't think his arrest for this was ever reported).

Is this a generalization, or do the Korean media generally report more on arrests and less on the outcome of the court cases?

And while we're on the topic, are cash settlement cases like this one often reported in the media?

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