A collection of newspaper cartoons about foreign English teachers

I found the above cartoon the other day, and as I was trying to track down a specific cartoon on this site, I thought I'd put all of the anti-foreign teacher cartoons together. After I realized I had no cartoons from 2007 (when anti-foreign teacher articles and reports reached a peak before the E-2 visa regulations changed), I decided a search was in order, but found more than I expected. Here are all of the cartoons or illustrations related to foreign English teachers I could find, positive and negative. You may note the consistency with which the gender and race of the teachers is depicted, as well as certain racial characteristics.

This odd image of a couple kissing is from the incredibly bizarre column titled 'sickening face' published in August 1984 during the French teacher 'scandal.'


This cartoon comes from a Kyunghyang Sinmun opinion article from 1997 (which includes the phrase "Korea is a paradise for unqualified English teachers") :

(NSA: Native Speaking Assistant?)

This one is from a December 17, 2004 Donga Ilbo article titled "Foreigners see various aspects of corruption in Korean society," which paints some foreign teachers as victims of hagwon owners.

("I knew I shouldn't have accepted a job from Chun Doo-hwan!")

On April 5, 2005, the Donga Ilbo published an article titled, "'In Korea, English teachers have a fascinating life'; US recruiting site belittles Korea," which included this cartoon (obviously by the same artist):

"Unqualified"

From an August 15, 2005 Donga Ilbo article about apartment complexes having an English village with a foreign teacher titled "Our apartment's children don't go to hagwons":


From a November 23, 2005 Busan Ilbo article about apartments having English villages with a foreign teacher for marketing purposes:


From a December 7, 2005 Segye Ilbo article about foreign profs and visas (note the artist's signature - he'll turn up again):

"Visa?" 'lecture'

From a December 30, 2005 Kukmin Ilbo column about the Busan dialect:


From a March 6, 2006 Hankyoreh article about need for teachers in the countryside:

'Chungcheongbuk-do': "We have no budget!"

From an April 16, 2006 Hankyoreh article about companies introducing teachers to other businesses making lots of money:


From an April 18 2006 Kyunhyang Sinmun article which asked people, 'Which is more useful, an English camp or a native speaking teacher (55% chose the former, 40%, the latter):

As the teacher has no nose, I'll assume she's one of those 'fake' native speakers. The same question is pondered in this cartoon from the Hanguk Ilbo, April 25, 2006:


A June 4, 2006 Hanguk Ilbo article looks at the placement of native speaking teachers by province or city:


From a July 9, 2006 Segye Ilbo article titled “It’s urgent that measures be prepared for unqualified native speaking English teachers”:


The cartoon below is from an August 16, 2006 Seoul Shinmun article titled "Washout Native-Speaking Teacher Problem":

Late, absent/ gets money and does a runner/ molestation

Two days later, on August 18, the Segye Ilbo, mentioning the arrest of John Mark Karr, provided this cartoon in an article titled "As long as they just speak English... "Don't ask" recruiting of foreign instructors":

"Unqualified"

From an October 9, 2006 Kookmin Ilbo article about English names:

"My name is Jio"

On October, 23 2006, the Hanguk Ilbo provided this illustration for an article titled "US gangster drug criminals became hagwon English teachers?"

English instructor

From a November 22, 2006 Chosun Ilbo article titled "Foreigners started rumors about Hongdae? 'Street of pleasures,' a bitter distortion" (about a Korean woman studying in New York who met foreign men there who talked about Hongdae - and not because of art or music (gasp!)):

"The Girls of Hongdae..."

From a March 6, 2007 Hanguk Ilbo article titled “Public servant who can’t speak English? Don’t even dream of promotion [Ulsan]":


From a March 11, 2007 Hanguk Ilbo article about TOEFL and ways of studying:


I just liked it for the nose on the TV anchor:


From the May 9, 2007 Hankyoreh article ‘The reason for English teachers who speak poor English’ (at 46 places in capital area there were teachers hired for being white but were non native speakers):


From the May 26, 2007 Donga Ilbo article "Learn Korean in Andong":


From the June 11, 2007 Kyunghyang Shimun article "Native speaking teacher ‘low content’ – As long as they speak English, OK":

Translation: "It's chowdah! Chowdah!
I'll kill you! I'll kill all of you -
especially those of you in the jury!"

From the July 13, 2007 Munhwa Ilbo article “fake phone English teachers abound”:

"The pronunciation?" "Shallashalla"

I don't think they could be much clearer about how they feel about talking to a Filipina.

From an October 4, 2007 Donga Ilbo article about co teaching, and the need for training:


From an October 17, 2007 Segye Ilbo article titled “Native speaking teachers work in the country? NO”:

"Big city"

From a November 12, 2007 Gangwon Ilbo article titled "The power of English":


From a February 10, 2008 Kyunghyang Sinmun article about enticements to buy apartments like English camps:


From a February 18, 2008 Hanguk Gyeongje article about a free language chatting site:


A March 20, 2008 Hanguk Ilbo article titled "Killer wanted by FBI openly teaches in Korea" published this cartoon:

"Wanted" "Teacher"

From a March 24, 2008 Maeil Gyeongje article about English immersion education:


From a March 29, 2008 Maeil Gyeongje article about Konglish:


This was in the June 18, 2008 edition of the Weekly Chosun:

"Native speaking instructor"

Ironically, it's a translation of an article written by a foreigner criticizing the abilities of foreign teachers in Korea. As for the cartoon, I love the sign he's holding. Who doesn't want a foreign teacher blow-up doll? If you can't get a robot, I mean.


From a June 25, 2008 Sindonga article titled, “By memorizing a framework of only 200 sentences, you too can master practical English”:

"Shalla shalla"

(It says that the Korean person is someone who has "studied using this method for 1 year." For those doubters out there, perhaps the foreigner is praising him because he isn't a native speaker, as can be seen by the lack of a huge nose.)

From a July 18, 2008 Kyunghyang Sinmun article about taeglish and piglish (taekwondo, piano + English):


This cartoon appeared in a September 26, 2008 NoCut News (and Gyeongin Ilbo) article titled "70% of Incheon native speaking assistant English teachers are inexperienced":

"Experience" .

From a December 5, 2008 Seoul Sinmun article titled “Study English with a native speaker through the computer”:


From a December 17, 2008 Maeil Shinmun article titled "Why do unqualified foreign English teachers abound?," which opens with the question, "If you're white, all goes well?," had this pointy-nosed foreigner holding an (incorrect) graph:


From a January 28, 2009 Hanguk Ilbo article about Seoul shouldering private education costs:


This cartoon accompanied a May 20 Donga Ilbo article titled "'Drug instructors' caught and still teach - schools and hagwons take no action and cover it up":


An August 9, 2009 Segye Ilbo article titled "In a single year, thousands of dollars are spent inviting... fraud native speaking teachers" provided two cartoons:



The August 24, 2009 Weekly Chosun had several articles about English Teachers (see here for translations) and provided these cartoons (the first is meant to comment on how the media views foreign English teachers):

On October 31, 2009, Sports Seoul published an article titled "Pursuing the reality of sex crimes by foreigners which threaten Korean women" in which was written "From Southeast Asians who enter the country illegally to earn money, to white native speaking English instructors... sex crimes against Korean women by foreigners are rampant."

 The Hankyoreh published four positive articles about foreign English teachers on November 29, 2009 and had these four cartoons accompany the articles:

"Forty students?"

"Why doesn't she ever consult with me about classes?"

"Do this today, OK?"

"I want to improve my skills as a teacher" (Book:"Teacher training")

"Are they going to ignore me?"

On December 1, 2009, Ilyo Sisa published a round up of incidents for that week and included a section titled "A bunch of foreign instructors headed to prison... why? A 'stoned lecture' while on drugs," which reported that there had been a shocking arrest of foreigners who worked in kindergartens and schools, including a regular [employee] instructor at a university and an actor seen on a terrestrial broadcaster. Five were arrested, one booked but not detained, and three more were being pursued for smuggling or taking cocaine or pot cookies in Incheon. (SBS also reported on this bust.)

On February 19, 2010, the Donga Ilbo published an article which wasn't about foreign teachers at all (it mentions the native speaker way of thinking when studying English), but which included this bizarre cartoon:

"Correct expression", "accurate pronunciation"
(note that the artist also did this classic cartoon)

On March 24, 2010, the Donga Ilbo published an article titled "By day he teaches, by night he sells drugs... Teacher wanted by Interpol" with the English subtitle "He is a killer, drug dealer… and your teacher" (which depicts the teacher as a gumiho or fox with 9 tails who has turned into an English teacher):

On March 30, 2010,  Ilyo Sisa, published an article titled "Unqualified English instructor who was a former gangster caught; In the US he was a 'murderer', in Korea, a 'teacher.'"

This cartoon is from a Gyeongin Ilbo editorial from October 26, 2010 titled "Opium eater Native speaking teacher":


The Munhwa Ilbo published an article on December 8, 2010 titled "Native Speaker Phone English? Turns out it's a korian. Deception by yuhaksaeng [posing as] 'neitibeu seupikeo'" that included this cartoon (it's not hard to figure out which one is foreign):


From a December 13, 2010 Kyunghyang Sinmun article about a foreign teacher stealing a trophy from other teachers while drunk:


On December 15th, Sports Seoul published an article following up on the 'fake' native speakers titled "'Ddeokbokki should be pronounced 'ddeobbogi' - the sorrow of fake native teachers." The accompanying cartoon, depicting the ddeokbokki incident and a teen talking about her sexual experience in earshot of the teacher (who must play dumb since he 'doesn't understand Korean') raises questions:


Do they have blond hair (and a goatee and earring) and look grotesque (compared to the Korean girls) because they are masquerading as foreigners?

This cartoon is from an August 9, 2011 Chosun Ilbo article titled "Famous Gangnam hagwon owner was LA gang member 14 years ago":


Gyopo murderers working as English teachers in Korea always seem to be fodder for cartoonists; this makes quite clear the person in question is Korean.

This cartoon is from an August 9 2011 Hankook Ilbo editorial about the hagwon owner wanted for attempted murder in the US:

Note the knife in his back pocket. As the teacher has no nose, he has also been pretty clearly depicted not to be a westerner.

From an August 19, 2011 Chosun Ilbo article titled "[Why] Ethnic Koreans in Korea suffer discrimination - wronged native speaking English teachers":


It's good to see the newspaper that printed "White English Teacher Threatens Korean Woman with AIDS" [Korean, English] so concerned about the plight of non-white, ethnic Korean foreign teachers.


On December 9, 2011, the Seoul Sinmun published an articlesubtitled "American gangsters deported for murder, drugs and gun smuggling became native speaking teachers" (more about that story can be read here):

"Fake diploma; native speaking instructor"

This cartoon is from a lengthy March 20, 2012 Donga Ilbo article about the effect the disappearance of native speaking teachers would have on public schools in Seoul, especially with Gangnam-gu having 4 billion won to spend on NSETs when other districts had no money.

On July 10, 2012, this cartoon appeared in a Donga Ilbo article titled "University student 'English study tip': A part time job in Itaewon":

On August 24, 2012, Financial News posted an article about native speaker video English, which was accompanied by the following photo:

On October 11, 2012, the Gyeongnam Sinmun, offered the following cartoon in an article titled "Foreign kindergarten instructor habitually took drugs" (pot cookies):

On May 3, 2013, the Munhwa Ilbo article published the following demonic photo to illustrate an article titled "An American wanted for first degree sexual assault of a child turned out to be... an 'elementary school instructor' on the run in Korea for 9 years":

This July 29, 2013 Munhwa Ilbo article, titled "'Foreigners [caught for] hidden cameras' increase sixfold over four years - concern videos may be leaked overseas," mentions a foreign teacher who took upskirt photos (but not at a beach, which was the focus of the story) and illustrates the article with an image of the same teacher seen directly above, and illustrated by the same artist.

On February 12, 2014, the Kyunghyang Sinmun published this episode of Park Sun-chan's 'Jangdori' in their hard copy edition and online) based on a case of mistreated African performers.

A certain artist. 

"People from poor countries need to realize that they live in luxury in Korea."

A certain criminal.

[Holding bag of 'drugs']

[At a native speaker English hagwon]

"Thank you so much for deigning to visit our shabby place."

"Teacher!" [Bowing deeply.]

On August 4, 2014, the Gyeongin Ilbo published this cartoon about English and Chinese native speaking English teachers leaving Incheon schools:

On December 4, 2014, the Law Times published this cartoon to accompany an article about a judgement requiring a hagwon owner to pay foreign instructors severance pay:

Some additional, non newspaper cartoons include this and these (NSFW) comics, which I also looked at here. The graphic accompanying this article is also amusing.

Vaguely related is an October 23, 2009 Kyunghyang Shinmun article titled "Foreign school students do 'lots of drugs'" depicted mostly Korean students doing drugs with this cartoon:


Plus a 'best of' compilation:

No one is safe. No one.

Last but not least, this is from a cartoon on a blog about a Korean teacher's foreign co-teacher ("shalla shalla" represents what Koreans think English sounds like). For some reason, the gif's animation only seems to work if you click on the photo - so click away: