Another update on Anti English Spectrum's accomplishments

Below is an update to this post translating Anti English Spectrum's list of accomplishments, which can be found here in Korean (first result) and incorporates this update from last summer. Between September 2009, when I first posted it, and July 2011, when the translated update was posted, AES added13 updates to the list, but in the last five months of 2011 they added eight updates. Links to their posts via Naver search are included where possible; otherwise the location of their post is included (only members can read them).

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2011.08.15
Made successful a Chosun Ilbo article about native speaking instructors taking and distributing new kinds of drugs.
"Drugs are entering through Yougle (Youtube + Google)" [Translated here]
Alerted the nation to the spread of new kinds of drugs by native speaking instructors via Youtube and Google. Reported 20 such sites spreading drugs to an agency.

2011 August to September (Enforcement scheduled)
The Ministry of Education passed legislation allowing the disclosure of [hagwon] instructor confirmation on relevant office of education homepages. Since 2008 our group has demanded agencies establish a system allowing parents to confirm instructors on relevant office of education homepages and finally this legislation was achieved.
http://cafe.naver.com/englishspectrum/11009

2011.09.29
The native speaking instructors' petition to find the foreigner health check (AIDS check) unconstitutional is rejected.
To maintain the native speaking instructor AIDS test, our group urged media who form public opinion, the MOJ, public corporations litigating for the government, the Regulatory Reform Commitee affiliated with the prime ministers office, etc. that strong measures were required.
The AIDS test for native speaking instructors is still maintained.
http://cafe.naver.com/englishspectrum/11062 [Click first result]


2011.12.07
Seoul Metropolitan Council plans to gradually phase out the SMOE native speaking English assistant teacher system.
The hiring budget for SMOE NSETs will be gradually reduced and by 2014 NSETs will be phased out in secondary schools. Our group constantly asked SMOE and Seoul city to switch over the NSET budget to support Korean English teachers.
[For more information see here.]
http://cafe.naver.com/englishspectrum/10621
http://cafe.naver.com/englishspectrum/11130

2011.12.09
Made possible the arrest and expulsion from the classroom of murderer, rapist, gangster native speaking instructors who faked their academic backgrounds. These criminal instructors were arrested and punished after a year of effort.
[They link to TV news reports by KBS, SBS and MBC. More information on this arrest is here.]

2011.12.13
Participated in SMOE English education forum.
Requested the wholesale reduction of instructors and cuts to the NSET budget
Requested thorough supervision of native speaking hagwon instructors.
Requested that the NSET budget be transferred to the budget for improving the capabilities of Korean teachers.

2011.12.15
Cooperated with MBC Live Broadcast This Morning
Interviewed about problems with low quality native speaking instructors, cooperated with broadcaster. Made parents aware of the seriousness of the problem.

2011.12.19
Seoul Metropolitan Council passes large scale cuts to the NSET budget
Native speakers will be reduced in High Schools from 2012, middle school NSETs from the middle of 2012
We achieved the final goal of our group
Filed many petitions with the MOE, National Assembly, human rights commission, citizen rights commission [?], etc. regarding reducing NSETs.

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Since January, their site has seen a drop off in activity and M2 (Lee Eun-ung) is no longer the leader of the group. The drop in the number of posts seems understandable - they've achieved pretty much everything they wanted to achieve, what with the AIDS tests still being in place and public schools undergoing gradual ethnic cleansing. It's hard to know what influence the group's petitions had on the decision to reduce NSETs in schools, but months before reducing NSETs due to budget costs was talked about in the media, the AES front page had a call to stop hiring NSETs in schools precisely because of the cost. I'll save a look at that for another day.