Foreign English teachers get high and mock immigration

Or something like that.

I missed this earlier article by Financial News, which was published on June 14:

Foreign hagwon instructors and others caught for buying and taking new kinds of drugs.

Police have arrested foreign hagwon instructors and others for selling or buying and the taking new kinds of drug called 'spice (JWH-018).'

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Narcotics Division revealed on the 14th that they had booked without detention 12 people including a Mr. Lee (20), as well as foreign students and foreign hagwon instructors for violating the drug control law.

According to police, last September Mr. Lee deposited $300 in the bank account of an overseas online shopping mall for international delivery of 33 grams of spice, and was charged for producing 500 grams of spice in smokable form by mixing [the powder] with dried green tea leaves.

He is also charged with selling it to foreign students and foreigners in places like Gangnam and Hongdae club areas.

Police found that Lee sold the spice, which is a powdered form of synthetic marijuana which is much stronger than THC, the main ingredient in marijuana, for 50,000 won per gram.

A police official said, "Most of the suspects who were arrested were foreign students in their early 20s with experience living abroad or were foreigners who grew up in a culture which is lenient towards drugs and who have little sense of guilt [regarding drug use].

Meanwhile, police seized 381 grams of spice (with a market value of 19.05 million won).

How many foreign instructors were arrested? Who knows. Perhaps the title "Korean sells drugs to foreign instructors and foreign students" would have been more 'factual,' but obviously it wasn't going to get clicks (had Mr. Lee been a foreigner, they would have mentioned it). I'm also not sure if the 유학생 are supposed to be foreign students studying in Korea or Koreans who have studied overseas. Any ideas?

In other news, NoCut News published an article yesterday titled "American conversation instructor in her 20s mocks Korean immigration policy." Almost as good as the title is the file photo of a male teacher which has a caption which ends with "This photo is not related to the article." No, really? Did they not have any photos of female foreign teachers taken from behind, or is there perhaps a reason all of them might have been taken from the front?

I digress. The gist of the story is that an American woman teaching English at a hagwon apparently quit without notice and switched to a D-10 employment visa and started working at a public school, thus undermining Korean sovereignty. Or at least, that's what was reported based on interviews (one imagines) with everyone but the woman involved. Not that anyone is surprised by that. The Marmot saved me the trouble of translating/summarizing the article, so go see his post on the article here. Also worth reading is this comment by Brendan Carr, as well as this story of quitting a hagwon early.

As Robert wrote:

In NoCut’s words, "This English teacher, who thus caused the hagwon great losses and left her workplace without notice, is teaching children after getting hired as a teacher at an elementary school in the province by changing her visa as she likes, as if mocking Korea’s poor foreigner immigration policy."

The No Cut News article also has comments from an Incheon Immigration Office official, who says

"However, we learned too late that there was a problem with S, and learned that the visa change issuing regulations also have weaknesses." "We asked our superiors to supplement this, and the regulations will be strengthened to prevent such problems in the future."

One wonders what such regulation strengthening will mean (if any such changes are actually made, that is). Though surely such a blow to Korean sovereignty will not go unanswered, right? The title of the article alone makes it clear the NoCut News article has an agenda which could be construed as being aimed in that direction. Not that this would be the first such article by NoCut News about foreign teachers or with an agenda regarding them, as a selection of some of their headlines might reveal:

"Elementary and middle school native speaking assistant teachers 'half-heartedly' prepare classes and only chat during class"
"Native speaking teachers turned out to be murderers, gangsters, rapists and kidnappers in the US" (Mentioned here.)
"Again, native speaking instructor drug crime... including a hip hop singer and university professor"
"A stoned native speaking instructor and my child...?!"
"Drug dealing by English kindergarten native speaking teacher, international lawyer as well"
"'Troublemaker' native speaking teachers being governed through visa"
["Recently native speaking teachers have been committing various crimes such as molestation or drug use again and again"]
"In Jeju as well, case after case of foreign teachers smuggling pot"
'Delinquent foreign instructors, "Freeze!"' (about AES)
"Ever-increasing native speaking teacher crimes ... [better] verification urgent"
"There needs to be a hearing on Native speaking instructors"
["deviant and criminal behavior by native speaking teachers has been occurring endlessly"]

Also on (or around) the topic of foreign teachers, Three Wise Monkeys has an article about teaching in a public school, as well as an article about the MBC scandal written by a Korean high school student who explores the attitudes of her classmates towards interracial romance.

My cup overfloweth

I saw this ad for Ocean World on the subway today:


The Korean could be translated as "have you reached the point of climax?" Though I imagine there's a better translation. With the crashing waves, cleavage and skin, and 'climax' in Korean as well, I'd guess the English phrase was chosen with the knowledge of its range of meanings. Then again, perhaps not.

There are apparently even larger billboards out there.

Viewers shocked by shameless acts of unqualified foreign instructors

The 2005 English Spectrum Incident

Part 1: English Spectrum and 'Ask The Playboy'
Part 2: The Kimchiland where it’s easy to sleep with women and make money
Part 3: English Spectrum shuts down as Anti-English Spectrum is created
Part 4: How to hunt foreign women
Part 5: Did the foreigners who denigrated Korean women throw a secret party?
Part 6: The 'Ask The Playboy' sexy costume party
Part 7: Stir over ‘lewd party’ involving foreigners and Korean women
Part 8: The 2003 post that tarred foreign English teachers as child molesters
Part 9: Netizens shocked by foreign instructor site introducing how to harass Korean children
Part 10: Movement to expel foreign teachers who denigrated Korean women
Part 11: "Middle school girls will do anything"
Part 12: Netizens propose 'Yankee counter strike force'
Part 13: Segye Ilbo interview with the women from the party, part 1
Part 14: Segye Ilbo interview with the women from the party, part 2
Part 15: Web messages draw Koreans’ wrath
Part 16: Thai female laborers and white English instructors
Part 17: 'Regret' over the scandal caused by confessions of foreign instructors
Part 18: "Korean men have no excuse"
Part 19: "Unfit foreign instructors should be a 'social issue'"
Part 20: 'Clamor' at foreigner English education site
Part 21: Foreign instructor: "I want to apologize"
Part 22: No putting brakes on 'Internet human rights violations'
Part 23: "They branded us as whores, yanggongju and pimps," part 1
Part 24: "They branded us as whores, yanggongju and pimps," part 2
Part 25: Don't Imagine
Part 26: 'Foreign instructor' takes third place
Part 27: Art From Outsider's Point of View
Part 28: U.S. Embassy warns Americans of threats near colleges
Part 29: Internet real name system debated
Part 30: Dirty Korean women who have brought shame to the country?
Part 31: Foreign instructor: "In two years I slept with 20 Korean women."
Part 32: Invasion of Privacy Degrades Korean Women Twice Over
Part 33: 60 unqualified native speaking instructors hired for English instruction
Part 34: The rising tide of unqualified foreign instructors
Part 35: Warrant for Canadian English instructor who molested hagwon owner
Part 36: Viewers shocked by shameless acts of unqualified foreign instructors.

On January 31, 2005, My Daily published a second article about the episode of the MBC investigative current affairs program 'Sisa Magazine 2580' titled "Korea is a paradise" which was broadcast on the 30th. (Its first article is here). It purports to describe the netizen response, but is more an editorial than a news article. Case in point: is the title meant to be descriptive or prescriptive?

Viewers shocked by shameless acts of unqualified foreign instructors.

Are you so enamoured with foreigners for the single reason that they speak English that you'll give them your body and money?" "The supremacy of English has become so widespread that Korea has been made into a lawless world by unqualified foreign instructors." "Unqualified foreign instructors see Korea as an easy mark and are taking over - what is the government doing?"

"In two years I slept with 20 Korean women." This was said in a shocking phone interview with a foreign instructor on the MBC investigative current affairs program "Sisa Magazine 2580 - Korea is a paradise," which was broadcast on the 30th. After the broadcast, netizens and viewers poured out responses which contained various emotions such as shock, astonishment, and feelings of shame.

Once again, the stir over the site which denigrated Korean women has delivered another shock. The broadcast showed a glimpse of the ills of our society caused by the supremacy of English and by unqualified foreign instructors who carry out shameless acts.

For the sole reason that they come from countries that speak English, people with absolutely no qualifications as educators like drug addicts, degree fakers, and people who don't even know how to spell receive special treatment like being provided a house and high tuition fees, and the phenomenon of them going from hagwon instructors to home tutors is causing many problems.

The problem of unreserved, unqualified foreign instructors includes of course fraudulent English instruction, considering housewives they teach English to as sex partners and even shameless conduct which promotes tempting women over teaching English, and we are reminded once again that the this is a serious social problem that now should not be neglected any further.

These fraudulent unqualified foreign instructors increase the large amount of money they earn, don't hesitate to carry out shameless acts, and consider Korea to be a 'paradise' and 'easy mark.' This is because authorities who carelessly supervise them, the 'brokers' who provide even faked degrees and the hagwons who know this but overlook it act as the biggest supporters of unqualified instructors.

However, above all else, the cause allowing the spread of unqualified foreign instructors in this land can be the mistaken belief in the supremacy of English in which just speaking English well can be treated [well] by our society. If awareness of the widespread belief in the supremacy of English is not improved, and if the English education system is not properly maintained, unqualified foreign instructors who think of Korea as an easy mark will not disappear from this land.

It must have been frightening to realize that "Korea has been made into a lawless world by unqualified foreign instructors" who "don't hesitate to carry out shameless acts." Obviously there has been little "improvement" in the "widespread belief in the supremacy of English" since 2005.

Seoul: A day in the life, 1970

To get a sense of just how different the Korea Times used to be, here is a description of a day in the life of Seoul, from January 11, 1970:


And yes, the writer is Ahn Jung-hyo, who, according to Wikipedia, wrote for the Korea Herald in the 60s and eventually became director of the Korea Times in 1975. Ahn is best known for his books "White Badge," about his experiences as a soldier in Vietnam (and his childhood memories of the Korean War) and "Silver Stallion"(about a Korean village's experience of the war and the US military presence) which he translated into English himself; an interview with him from 1989 can be read here.

In the future I'll post other articles by him that I've found.

School demographics

I came across some statistics on my school's students today, and thought it was interesting to look at the demographics:


When you take into consideration that there were a similar number of students in grade 6 last year, and almost 300 two years ago, the downward trend in the number of students is pretty clear. As for the sex ratio, according to Wikipedia, "In 2010, the global sex ratio was 986 females per 1,000 males." The sex ratio for this school is 943 females per 1,000 males. Here are female/male sex ratios by grade:
Grade 1: 936 per 1000
Grade 2: 882 per 1000
Grade 3: 1187 per 1000
Grade 4: 859 per 1000
Grade 5: 879 per 1000
Grade 6: 942 per 1000

In the statistics above, you can see that for some reason there were about 15 more students in grade 3, and all of those 15 are girls. Seeing as they were born in 2003, perhaps some of them were conceived during the World Cup...

Of course, this is just one school. I went to a demonstration class in Mok-dong a few weeks ago and eventually realized that there were two boys for every girl in the grade 6 class that was being taught. I asked the teacher about this and she said that was the ratio for grade 6 students at that school (the other grades apparently weren't as bad). Needless to say, 2:1 is a rather skewed ratio, though it was confined to one area (and the school was fairly small).

I was wondering just how much of a change this was from the 1980s and 1990s, and according to this article, "South Korea’s sex ratio rose from just above normal to 117 in 1990—then the highest in the world—before falling back to more natural levels." The 'normal level' is considered 105 males for 100 females, and calculating it that way, the sex ratio at my school is 106 males to 100 females, making it only slightly above normal. Well then, looked at that way, the gender imbalance isn't as great as it might first seem.

It would be fascinating to see nationwide statistics over the last decade to see how the low birthrate has been developing. It doesn't seem like a trend that will change any time soon.

Warrant for Canadian English instructor who molested hagwon owner

The 2005 English Spectrum Incident

Part 1: English Spectrum and 'Ask The Playboy'
Part 2: The Kimchiland where it’s easy to sleep with women and make money
Part 3: English Spectrum shuts down as Anti-English Spectrum is created
Part 4: How to hunt foreign women
Part 5: Did the foreigners who denigrated Korean women throw a secret party?
Part 6: The 'Ask The Playboy' sexy costume party
Part 7: Stir over ‘lewd party’ involving foreigners and Korean women
Part 8: The 2003 post that tarred foreign English teachers as child molesters
Part 9: Netizens shocked by foreign instructor site introducing how to harass Korean children
Part 10: Movement to expel foreign teachers who denigrated Korean women
Part 11: "Middle school girls will do anything"
Part 12: Netizens propose 'Yankee counter strike force'
Part 13: Segye Ilbo interview with the women from the party, part 1
Part 14: Segye Ilbo interview with the women from the party, part 2
Part 15: Web messages draw Koreans’ wrath
Part 16: Thai female laborers and white English instructors
Part 17: 'Regret' over the scandal caused by confessions of foreign instructors
Part 18: "Korean men have no excuse"
Part 19: "Unfit foreign instructors should be a 'social issue'"
Part 20: 'Clamor' at foreigner English education site
Part 21: Foreign instructor: "I want to apologize"
Part 22: No putting brakes on 'Internet human rights violations'
Part 23: "They branded us as whores, yanggongju and pimps," part 1
Part 24: "They branded us as whores, yanggongju and pimps," part 2
Part 25: Don't Imagine
Part 26: 'Foreign instructor' takes third place
Part 27: Art From Outsider's Point of View
Part 28: U.S. Embassy warns Americans of threats near colleges
Part 29: Internet real name system debated
Part 30: Dirty Korean women who have brought shame to the country?
Part 31: Foreign instructor: "In two years I slept with 20 Korean women."
Part 32: Invasion of Privacy Degrades Korean Women Twice Over
Part 33: 60 unqualified native speaking instructors hired for English instruction
Part 34: The rising tide of unqualified foreign instructors
Part 35: Warrant for Canadian English instructor who molested hagwon owner

On January 29, 2005, NoCut News published the following article:

Warrant for Canadian English instructor who molested hagwon owner

Recently comments by foreign English teachers denigrating Korean women caused much public criticism in society and now a Canadian English instructor has been caught by police for molesting a Korean female instructor.

Seoul Dongdaemun police have requested an arrest warrant for Canadian hagwon instructor Mr. S (32) on charges of molesting his hagwon manager.

Mr. S is accused of molesting his hagwon manager Ms. Kim (31) in a classroom in the hagwon he worked at in Hyehwa-dong yesterday at 1pm.

During the police investigation Mr. S argued that "I didn't molest her and didn't intend to," however the victim Ms. Kim said, "Mr. S usually also had such excessive physical contact with other female instructors, and I contacted the police."

NoCut News apparently thought this story was so important that it published this article a second time a half hour later, the only difference being the title ("Canadian English instructor who molested female instructor 'headed behind bars'"). A Kyunghyang Sinmun article published a few hours later, however, said that prosecutors had rejected the warrant requested by police. Saying that police had applied for an arrest warrant for the Canadian hagwon instructor, the article states: "However, the prosecution said it was difficult to see that the victim was in a condition unable to resist and rejected the requested warrant." I'm not sure if that means he couldn't be detained, or if it means he couldn't be charged at all.

One wonders if this would have even been news a month earlier.

Juvenile Delinquency Up

Concerns about rising crime by teens is nothing new, as this May 24, 1970 Korea Times article about a rise in juvenile delinquency reveals:


For the negative perceptions of youth in the 1990s, see this post.

The rising tide of unqualified foreign instructors

The 2005 English Spectrum Incident

Part 1: English Spectrum and 'Ask The Playboy'
Part 2: The Kimchiland where it’s easy to sleep with women and make money
Part 3: English Spectrum shuts down as Anti-English Spectrum is created
Part 4: How to hunt foreign women
Part 5: Did the foreigners who denigrated Korean women throw a secret party?
Part 6: The 'Ask The Playboy' sexy costume party
Part 7: Stir over ‘lewd party’ involving foreigners and Korean women
Part 8: The 2003 post that tarred foreign English teachers as child molesters
Part 9: Netizens shocked by foreign instructor site introducing how to harass Korean children
Part 10: Movement to expel foreign teachers who denigrated Korean women
Part 11: "Middle school girls will do anything"
Part 12: Netizens propose 'Yankee counter strike force'
Part 13: Segye Ilbo interview with the women from the party, part 1
Part 14: Segye Ilbo interview with the women from the party, part 2
Part 15: Web messages draw Koreans’ wrath
Part 16: Thai female laborers and white English instructors
Part 17: 'Regret' over the scandal caused by confessions of foreign instructors
Part 18: "Korean men have no excuse"
Part 19: "Unfit foreign instructors should be a 'social issue'"
Part 20: 'Clamor' at foreigner English education site
Part 21: Foreign instructor: "I want to apologize"
Part 22: No putting brakes on 'Internet human rights violations'
Part 23: "They branded us as whores, yanggongju and pimps," part 1
Part 24: "They branded us as whores, yanggongju and pimps," part 2
Part 25: Don't Imagine
Part 26: 'Foreign instructor' takes third placePart 27: Art From Outsider's Point of View
Part 28: U.S. Embassy warns Americans of threats near colleges
Part 29: Internet real name system debated
Part 30: Dirty Korean women who have brought shame to the country?
Part 31: Foreign instructor: "In two years I slept with 20 Korean women."
Part 32: Invasion of Privacy Degrades Korean Women Twice Over
Part 33: 60 unqualified native speaking instructors hired for English instruction
Part 34: The rising tide of unqualified foreign instructors

On January 26, the Kyunghyang Sinmun published an article about unqualified foreign teachers (which came ten days after publishing an editorial about how white foreigners were treated too well compared to foreign labourers):

"If they have blue eyes, it's OK." The rising tide of unqualified foreign instructors

Due to the early English education craze, there is a rapidly increasing influx of foreigners from the United States and Canada making money as conversation instructors. However, lax verification of their qualifications is leading to under-qualified teachers and of course various illegal activities, or causing problems detrimental to education. The true situation is that those with no visa qualifying them for conversation instruction have taught regular classes in elementary school and have even forged university degrees.

◇ Forging diplomas for illegal employment = On the 26th, the foreign crimes division of the Gyeonggi area police arrested Mr. Lee (37), the owner of a well known English language hagwon franchise, for contravening the Employment Security Act and the Immigration Act by illegally hiring 47 Canadians who had no conversation instruction (E-2) visa, finding them jobs as elementary school instructors or private tutors, and taking in 120,000,000 won in fraudulent gains. The Canadians entered Korea on tourist (F-1) visas and were hired as instructors at 5 elementary school or as private tutors in the Seoul area. Among them, it turned out there were two who were 19 and had not graduated from university who openly taught children.

Even in cases where people have E-2 visas, the issue is serious. According to the immigration act, those with a nationality where English is the mother tongue and who have only a university degree can pass an interview, receive an E-2 visa, and work as an instructor. Jeong Hae-tak, representative of ANS, a employment company for foreigners, said, "There are Americans who submit fake degrees who are discovered while headed toward the interview." "If you go to Itaewon in Seoul, a university degree can be forged for 40 to 50 dollars." "If you want to try to confirm whether an instructor has actually graduated from a foreign university, it takes two to three weeks to send and receive an official document, and for this reason there are almost no hagwons or companies which have followed this procedure."

In these circumstances, cases of foreign instructors' disordered personal lives being exposed, or of habitual behavior detrimental to education such as being absent without permission, are increasing. Recently, foreign language hagwons have created and shared a "blacklist" of foreigners to watch out for at hiring time.

◇ 'If they have blond hair and blue eyes', then "OK" = Foreign language educators point out that lax qualification verification procedures and a tendency to easily trust white people encourages an influx of illegal and under-qualified instructors. An official at a foreign language hagwon in Jongno, Seoul, said, "For North Americans wanting to go to Asia and make money, Korea is the most popular place." "Since parents and students prefer white people without differentiating, one white person put up a photo and resume on a foreign job site and got job offers from about ten hagwons." "They can select a job with good conditions and through distorted personal experiences such as asking that 'female students come to my house and do the dishes," the perception that "Korea is an easy mark" has spread, he added.

Canadian foreign language hagwon instructor Joy Turnbull said, "In Korea employment is decided by confirmation of your degree and a short interview." "There is more emphasis on appearance and interview skills than in qualifications or ability."

Professor Yun Hui-gi of Korea Unversity's international language school said, "Review of qualifications should be thoroughly carried out locally at places such as overseas Korean consulates." "On the hiring side as well, their qualifications as educators should be strictly verified through such things as in-depth interviews," she stressed.

The article points out many of the things wrong with the system, though, with statements like "it takes two to three weeks to send and receive an official document," it also seems to communicate the idea that 'it's beyond our control.' On the other hand, it can't quite resist describing an "influx of illegal and under-qualified instructors" who have "disordered personal lives" in which they have "distorted personal experiences such as asking that 'female students come to my house and do the dishes,'" which encourages the perception that "Korea is an easy mark."With this, the article is one of the first (well, since the 1980s, at least) to construct the 'problem with foreign instructors,' and it lays out a blueprint which mixes legitimate concerns with salacious insinuations and a depiction of Korean society as being both vulnerable to victimization by foreign instructors and helpless to stop them (unless the authorities take action).

The 2002 USFK tank accident, ten years later

As it was pointed out at ROK Drop, yesterday was the tenth anniversary of the vehicle accident which killed Shim Mi-seon and Shin Hyo-sun, two middle school girls from Yangju, and led to a very low point in Korea-U.S. relations. This ROK Drop post on the accident and its aftermath is well worth reading. The accident took place the same day Lee Myung-bak was elected Seoul Mayor, I just realized that it was the fact that it was an election day (a holiday) that allowed the girls to be walking on the side of the road to a friend's birthday party rather than be in school that morning. It's hard to believe ten years has passed since then, and I can't help but remember that the World Cup was taking place in Korea (and Japan) at the time, and as the Korean team won victory after victory, Korea became... a very different place, as if the country was taking a holiday from itself for awhile. Good times. I think one of my favourite memories was of watching the Korea-Italy game outside across from Bucheon city hall, when a bus driver driving an empty bus slowly drove by, craning his neck, trying to get a glimpse of the game on the big screen we were watching...

Unfortunately, the mood didn't last, and that 'let's gather in the streets and express our patriotism and uniformity' attitude contained within it the seeds of something darker which revealed itself later in the year after two U.S. soldiers, who were made to face a court-martial for political reasons, were found not guilty for involvement in the accident. (This was accompanied by the appearance of posters, some quite large, featuring the photo of the girls' crushed bodies, which appeared in many subway stations.) The month or more of candlelight protests which followed were conceived of by a netizen who used some sock puppetry to spread his idea of a candlelit non-protest protest near the U.S. embassy after watching a report on the case by (ahem) MBC's news program PD Notebook. So, in addition to what I mentioned previously, MBC has helped set off two sets of candlelit protests, what with the way they helped generate the hysteria surrounding mad cow disease which fueled months of anti-government protests in 2008 (which was built around several xenophobic/anti American tropes as well as the idea of Koreans being uniquely vulnerable).

As I wrote at that time,

I've seen posts in the English language Korean blogosphere pointing out that vigil organizers were going to commemorated the deaths of Shin Hyo-sun and Shim Mi-seon, the two middle school girls run over by a US military vehicle on June 13, 2002 (for more background on the incident [...] the Metropolitician offers his analysis of those that used their deaths to create a protest movement against the US military). [...] Candlelight vigils have been held in the same places as the current vigils are taking place every year since the girls died. The inclusion of a memorial for the girls should be of no surprise whatsoever to anyone who has been paying attention to how they've memorialized over the past few years.


Above is a photo of the memorial vigil held in 2003 at City Hall (before Seoul Plaza was built), which is the same place the vigil was held this year. In 2004 and 2005, the girls' deaths were commemorated with vigils at Gwanghwamun. In 2006 there was a problem: June 13, the anniversary of their deaths, was the date of Korea's first World Cup game:

(The "up" isn't necessary... (from here))

The Hankyoreh criticized those celebrating in the streets for forgetting the anniversary of the girls' deaths, though a small memorial was held near Gwanghwamun. In 2007 a vigil was held at Cheonggye Plaza.

As well, the candle girl image which became a prominent symbol of the 2008 protests was based on the image of one of the girls:


People gathered at the memorial built on the spot they died yesterday, and the night before protesters gathered in front of the gate of Deoksu Palace.


I wonder if it's even possible to conceive of them as anything other than symbols of a victimized nation.


Update:
The Hankyoreh has a very good article which does just that (via the Marmot's Hole).

MBC to mixed race couples: Maybe you have a guilty conscience

So, just to remind, this kerfuffle involving MBC shouldn't be too shocking (see 2005, 2007 (dig the syringes and misleading translation - thanks AES!) and earlier this year, though just about any Korean broadcaster will have similar offensive moments).

The original Facebook page protesting the show now has over 8600 members, and a 'silent protest' held by Korean/foreign couples in front of MBC's headquarters in Yeouido was covered in an article titled "We who date Koreans are not criminals" which was initially published by Danbi News and then reprinted at Ohmynews (and the journalist who wrote the article, Kim Heejin, was nice enough to have it translated here), and it was apparently at one point 'ranked 8th in the most read news on a portal site "Nate.com"'.

The incident was also discussed by Joongang Ilbo columnist Noh Jae-hyun in a column worth reading in Korean here, and it was translated into English here:

"Shocking Report" was truly shocking because it did not follow the most basic rules of reporting. The episode was more than uncomfortable. It was far from the truth. [...]

It is so obvious that these problems are not related to nationality or race that the MBC program must have been purely motivated by xenophobia. Whether you want to be cool or not when it comes to international relationships, keep this in mind: We are all human and love has no barriers.

The anger over MBC's report was also reported in France at Le Point, and then at Le Monde's blog. The former article has a rather vivid description of the report:

"Western sexual predators roam the streets of Seoul, hungry for fresh meat, prepared to abuse [Koreans'] purity and transmit the AIDS virus."

There are no half measures in that description.

Views of foreigners regarding the report were printed at the Korea Herald here and here, and a lengthy article asked "Does the media portray foreigners fairly?" and includes this statement by Benjamin Wagner:

“MBC has indicated that its program was more of the same nonsense portraying foreign English teachers as sexual predators who victimize defenseless Korean women and infect them with AIDS, but the irony is of course that teachers have been tested and re-tested for HIV ― how is it that they still represent an AIDS threat?” he said. [...]

“When mandatory HIV tests were introduced for foreign teachers in 2007 the argument from the government was that they were supposed to rehabilitate the reputations of these teachers and reassure Korean citizens about foreigners. Of course, the exact opposite of that has happened, the testing has reinforced the existing stigma and now it’s become acceptable for a major broadcasting network to insinuate that foreigners are spreading AIDS.”

If we remember, once Anti-English Spectrum realized they had (erroneously) come up with ammunition to tar foreign teachers as AIDS threats, it was their contributions to this article and this article which were then used in petitions to the government for HIV tests for E-2 visa holders, and it was likely this advocacy that got their leader invited to the conference where the E-2 visa drug and HIV tests were decided on in 2007.

At any rate, it's nice to see the Herald article also interviewed Mahbub Alam (who appeared in this film):

Migrant workers from East and Southeast Asia have also complained of their representation in the media, leading to the formation in 2005 of Migrant Workers TV Network, to counter what one participant described as the media’s depiction of migrant workers as “comical or miserable.”

Mahbub Alam, the director of Asia Media Culture Factory, a group of artists that often explores migrant issues, says that the media has tended to either shy away from migrant issues completely, or only depict migrant workers as “poor” and “helpless.”

He has, however, seen much change in his time here, especially from film and in the emergence of small, independent media outlets.

Hopefully not Pan Entertainment (or is it All That Media?).

To recap, the Korea Herald reported that

The lead writer for the show, made by external production company Pan Entertainment, said that she did not consider the content to be controversial, and claimed it was an accurate representation of the situation.

“Our report is based on the facts that we found as we were covering the story and it strictly reported on the present situation. We have made it clear that it only reflected the few,” she said, adding that she was concerned about the potential harm to the image of Korean women.

As she should be, considering how they were portrayed in the report. Evan Ramstad at the Korea Realtime WSJ blog quoted an unnamed MBC producer of the show:

“When they presented the item, we thought it’s a kind of issue that had been talked about for a long time, [7 years!] Korean women dating American English teacher to learn English, and especially in Itaewon area,” he said, referring to a neighborhood that’s long been frequented by foreigners due in large part to its proximity to the U.S. army post.

“I don’t understand why foreigners get angry about the issue while they are living with their spouses and having no problem,” he said. “Foreigner-Korean women couples are living happily, but why are they angry over an issue that has nothing to do with them?”

He said the piece intended to portray “Korean women who are out of their sense and get involved in these kinds of affairs.”

“We need to be awakened and try to change this culture,” he said. “We had no intention to disparage foreigners. We wouldn’t do a report about foreigner-Korean women couples who are living without any problem.”

The producer said one of MBC’s senior managers conveyed a complaint about the piece from a couple he knew in which the husband is American and wife is Korean. “His American friend got angry about the report,” the producer said. “I don’t understand why he would get angry if it’s not something he was involved in.”

To recap, the producer said the piece intended to portray "Korean women who are out of their sense and get involved in these kinds of affairs" and that "We need to be awakened and try to change this culture." This may sound familiar; here is the reason for founding a certain Naver cafe 7 years ago:

Anti English Spectrum cafe manager 'Bba'allyuchi,' who is leading the 'anti' movement by establishing the cafe and making the photos of the lewd party public, explained why he opened the cafe: "It's always just sad that some thoughtless women sympathize with foreigners who they don't realize have approached them with this (sexually demeaning) way of thinking about Korean women." "[This cafe] is a place where people who are worried about this and who want to make an issue of foreigners who demean Korean women as if they are all cheap whores."

Perhaps 'Bba'allyuchi' found a new job? I'm not sure if it's the same producer or not, but the Joongang Daily published a lengthy article titled "The actual reality of interracial relationships" (which asks at one point: "Are white men predators?" Answer: Um, obviously, yes), and offered this choice response:

In response to the outcry from non-Korean viewers over the show, Kim Ji-wan, deputy chief of “Saesangbogi Sisigakgak,” said he couldn’t understand why foreigners were offended.

“We’re receiving a lot of calls [about the show] but I don’t understand what makes them angry. We all think the show is okay,” said Kim in a furious tone during a phone interview the Korea JoongAng Daily. “I watched the show several times and you’ve probably noticed we said ‘some’ foreigners make trouble.

“But why are all these foreigners making a fuss over it? Maybe because they have a guilty conscience,” added Kim.

As well they should, blackening the Han River as they have. Something to keep in mind, of course , is that criticizing MBC means not that MBC did something wrong, but that you did. Perhaps all mixed race couples out there owe MBC an apology for taking out their guilty consciences on such a well-meaning broadcaster.

The show was produced by independent production company All That Media, but the topic and outline for the show were decided and approved by MBC, according to Kim. MBC doesn’t have a plan to apologize to non-Korean viewers of the show.

Will they offer an apology to just the Korean viewers, then?

60 unqualified native speaking instructors hired for English instruction

The 2005 English Spectrum Incident

Part 1: English Spectrum and 'Ask The Playboy'
Part 2: The Kimchiland where it’s easy to sleep with women and make money
Part 3: English Spectrum shuts down as Anti-English Spectrum is created
Part 4: How to hunt foreign women
Part 5: Did the foreigners who denigrated Korean women throw a secret party?
Part 6: The 'Ask The Playboy' sexy costume party
Part 7: Stir over ‘lewd party’ involving foreigners and Korean women
Part 8: The 2003 post that tarred foreign English teachers as child molesters
Part 9: Netizens shocked by foreign instructor site introducing how to harass Korean children
Part 10: Movement to expel foreign teachers who denigrated Korean women
Part 11: "Middle school girls will do anything"
Part 12: Netizens propose 'Yankee counter strike force'
Part 13: Segye Ilbo interview with the women from the party, part 1
Part 14: Segye Ilbo interview with the women from the party, part 2
Part 15: Web messages draw Koreans’ wrath
Part 16: Thai female laborers and white English instructors
Part 17: 'Regret' over the scandal caused by confessions of foreign instructors
Part 18: "Korean men have no excuse"
Part 19: "Unfit foreign instructors should be a 'social issue'"
Part 20: 'Clamor' at foreigner English education site
Part 21: Foreign instructor: "I want to apologize"
Part 22: No putting brakes on 'Internet human rights violations'
Part 23: "They branded us as whores, yanggongju and pimps," part 1
Part 24: "They branded us as whores, yanggongju and pimps," part 2
Part 25: Don't Imagine
Part 26: 'Foreign instructor' takes third place
Part 27: Art From Outsider's Point of View
Part 28: U.S. Embassy warns Americans of threats near colleges
Part 29: Internet real name system debated
Part 30: Dirty Korean women who have brought shame to the country?
Part 31: Foreign instructor: "In two years I slept with 20 Korean women."
Part 32: Invasion of Privacy Degrades Korean Women Twice Over
Part 33: 60 unqualified native speaking instructors hired for English instruction

On January 26, 2005, Yonhap published the following story:

60 unqualified native speaking instructors hired for English instruction

(Suwon=Yonhap News) Reporter Kim In-yu = Police arrested 60 people, including unqualified instructors and a hagwon representative, for illegal English conversation instruction done through home visits, and for hiring unqualified native speaking instructors.

On the 26th, the foreign crimes division of the Gyeonggi area police arrested E Hagwon representative Mr. Lee (37) for contravening the Employment Security Act and the Immigration Act, and booked without detention the director, Mr. Son (33), for the same crime.

As well, 11 hagwon branch managers including a Mr. Son were booked without detention, and 8 foreign instructors including Ms. P (19) were deported. Meanwhile, the immigration office has been informed of a list of the other 39 instructors, who have been banned from leaving the country.

According to police, from May 15 last year to January 6 this year, hagwon representative Mr. Lee, who set up 32 hagwon branches around the country, brought around 60 Canadians, including Ms P, who were not qualified for conversation instruction (E-2 visa) into the country on tourist visas (H-1) and had them teach English conversation illegally to elementary school students and children via home visits.

The police investigation revealed that these unqualified foreign instructors taught in Seoul and the capital area teaching mostly elementary school students and children by visiting their homes and carrying out 50 minutes of English conversation instruction per week. As well, last August, some worked as regular and optional course instructors in 5 elementary schools in the Seoul, Incheon and Uijeongbu areas.

All of the instructors were Canadians between 19 and 21 years old and said they believed the words of job placement companies who said they could teach English on a tourist visa, and came to Korea. The Hagwon side said that the instructors, who graduated only from high school or junior college, deceived them regarding their age and their educational background, saying they were regular university graduates.

This was one of four articles on the topic; YTN, the Hanguk Ilbo, and Naeil Sinmun also reported on these arrests, with the latter publishing a column two days later titled "The only victims of poor English teachers are the children." It ends with this diagnosis:

Our reality is that, through the indifference of Education authorities and the negligence of schools, only the children are receiving a poor English education.

Interesting that the hagwon owners and job placement companies came in for more criticism. One wonders if these kind of arrests were not uncommon, and that the (slight) media attention paid to this one was due to the aftermath of the English Spectrum incident, or if the incident had led to more scrutiny of foreign teachers and hagwons which hired them illegally. I'd imagine it was more of the latter. I know in the months following the incident, there were not only more reported arrests, but police in and around subway or train stations also began to ask westerners for their ID (something previously restricted to people who looked southeast Asian).

Downloads, lectures, and excursions available from RASKB

Over at the revamped Royal Asiatic Society - Korea Branch website, there is now a blog which will attempt to keep people posted on current events. It's a work in progress, but the idea will be to post videos of lectures so that those who can't attend can watch them afterwards. One such lecture is this fascinating one from 2006 by Professor In-ho Lee, Korea's first female ambassador who was posted to both Finland and Russia. The lecture looks at Korean history from the late nineteenth century to the present, and discusses the attempts by leftist historians to re-write Korean history from their point of view, one in which the U.S. is to blame for Korea's post-liberation trials. At any rate, it's excellent, and well worth your time if you have any interest in that topic.

As well, the RASKB now has every issue of Transactions - back to 1900! - digitized and available to be downloaded; see this page for the list of volumes or articles. The menu at left will also allow you to search through subject, title, or author indexes.

Also, the deadline to sign up for two upcoming excursions - one to Pocheon to see makgeolli breweries (and make makgeolli yourself) and one to see colonial-era architecture in Gunsan - is today; see here for more details.

Last, but not least, tomorrow's lecture will be worth attending if you have any interest in turn of the (last) century Korea. Titled 'Yankee Knight Errant at the Court of the Emperor Manque: William Franklin Sands and King Gojong in the "Korean Cockpit,"' it will look at William Franklin Sands, who served in the U.S. embassy and then became the last independent American adviser to the Joseon Dynasty. His observations of the penultimate chapter of the Joseon Dynasty form the basis of his fascinating book 'Undiplomatic Memories,' and the lecture will be based on previously unseen documentary materials in Sands' archived papers. See here for more information.

Invasion of Privacy Degrades Korean Women Twice Over

The 2005 English Spectrum Incident

Part 1: English Spectrum and 'Ask The Playboy'
Part 2: The Kimchiland where it’s easy to sleep with women and make money
Part 3: English Spectrum shuts down as Anti-English Spectrum is created
Part 4: How to hunt foreign women
Part 5: Did the foreigners who denigrated Korean women throw a secret party?
Part 6: The 'Ask The Playboy' sexy costume party
Part 7: Stir over ‘lewd party’ involving foreigners and Korean women
Part 8: The 2003 post that tarred foreign English teachers as child molesters
Part 9: Netizens shocked by foreign instructor site introducing how to harass Korean children
Part 10: Movement to expel foreign teachers who denigrated Korean women
Part 11: "Middle school girls will do anything"
Part 12: Netizens propose 'Yankee counter strike force'
Part 13: Segye Ilbo interview with the women from the party, part 1
Part 14: Segye Ilbo interview with the women from the party, part 2
Part 15: Web messages draw Koreans’ wrath
Part 16: Thai female laborers and white English instructors
Part 17: 'Regret' over the scandal caused by confessions of foreign instructors
Part 18: "Korean men have no excuse"
Part 19: "Unfit foreign instructors should be a 'social issue'"
Part 20: 'Clamor' at foreigner English education site
Part 21: Foreign instructor: "I want to apologize"
Part 22: No putting brakes on 'Internet human rights violations'
Part 23: "They branded us as whores, yanggongju and pimps," part 1
Part 24: "They branded us as whores, yanggongju and pimps," part 2
Part 25: Don't Imagine
Part 26: 'Foreign instructor' takes third place
Part 27: Art From Outsider's Point of View
Part 28: U.S. Embassy warns Americans of threats near colleges
Part 29: Internet real name system debated
Part 30: Dirty Korean women who have brought shame to the country?
Part 31: Foreign instructor: "In two years I slept with 20 Korean women."
Part 32: Invasion of Privacy Degrades Korean Women Twice Over

On January 25, 2005, the Chosun Ilbo finally published an article (on page A12 in its hard copy edition) on this incident, titled "Regarding 'foreigner low quality posts,' nothing can stop innocent Korean women from being victimized in the online court of public opinion." As you can tell from the title, the article focused on the suffering of the women at the hands of netizens. This same article was translated and posted at Chosun.com's English site with a different title and a bit more context given in regard to the celebrity x-file incident. One untranslated paragraph has been added in, but otherwise the English version is actually a bit longer than the original.

Invasion of Privacy Degrades Korean Women Twice Over

Before the "entertainment x-file" hit cyberspace, the hot issue among local Netizens was a post by an English teacher in Korea who wrote that local women treated him like a king and were easy to sleep with. Oddly, however, it was not predatory foreign men who came under attack as a result but Korean women.

On Saturday, the Chosun Ilbo met with the 28-year-old manager of a club near Hongik University. She had become another victim of character assassination by Internet when photos her and eight regular customers taken at a party began making their way around the web. It was a "sexy costume party" held at her Mary Jane club last November. Some 70 percent of the participants were Korean men and women, while the rest were foreign men and women.

"Two customers were on the verge of quitting their jobs, and another was seeking psychiatric counseling," she said Saturday. "Another customer had a job offer taken away. Our club is preparing to close. This is clearly an act of murder."

In mid-December, photos from the party were posted on English Spectrum, a website frequented by foreign English teachers working in Korea. They had been taken by some of the foreigners who attended the party and depicted Korean women and Western men dancing together in a suggestive way, Korean women revealing their breasts or underwear, as well as Western men and Korean women touching and kissing.

The photos escaped public scrutiny until 10 days ago, when they sparked an outcry at the height of the cyberspace hysteria about "foreign teachers degrading Korean women." Several inflammatory comments posted on English Spectrum by English teachers living in Korea even lead to the formation of a movement to expel foreign teachers from the peninsula. When the photos were discovered, it was like pouring oil on an open fire.

[As the low quality posts posted at a site where the foreign instructor party photos were published (are) spread, a 'movement to expel foreign instructors' is coming together.]

Online rage switched targets from foreign men to the Korean women in the photos. Some online media described the pictures as "scenes of women openly enjoying sex with foreigners." These stories were often accompanied by malicious comments like, "Whores, are Western bastards that good?" and, "The English you learn from selling yourself is body language, not real English." Even more frightening was that calls for the women's names, work places, email addresses and phone numbers to be made public were promptly answered.

The club manager describes the pain that followed as "trampling on her life." "I get anonymous threatening phone calls at the club all the time. 'Why don't whores like you just die quietly,' 'Foreigners' whore! Why don't you shut down your club?' 'We will hold a picket demonstration in front of your club'... I get nervous anytime I hear the phone ring."

A 27-year old also in the pictures said, "It's true that I enjoy dancing to relieve stress, but isn't it going overboard to treat me like a whore?" Fighting back tears, she said, "My co-workers point at me behind my back." "I don't know how they got my email address, but I get tons of emails with frightening titles, so I don't even turn on my computer these days." Another girl pictured said she was offered a secretarial position in early January, but because of the photos, the job offer was withdrawn.

The same paradox - of the victims of Internet revelations being degraded again in vicious Internet attacks - was also at play when Korean entertainers were attacked following the publication of unsubstantiated rumors about them in the "x-file." Meanwhile, there is no word on whether the men who left the degrading comments on the site were ever held accountable.

The victims are suing the Internet media behind publication of the pictures. Their lawyer Im Sang-hyeok said, "Just as the tsunamis in South Asia left wretched survivors in their wake, Korean women were left as victims in the places swept by excessive Internet enthusiasm."

The article has some more ugly comments written by the netizens and further interviews with the owner and the women, as well as a comment by their lawyer, which is the first confirmation that the women had actually gotten a lawyer. It's also about the only confirmation of this. This article is in fact the last article about the English Spectrum incident itself; from here on in begin the many articles scrutinizing foreign teachers in Korea that we are quite familiar with today. In the next installments of this series, we will see the rise of the 'unqualified foreign teacher.'

Foreign teachers in the news

For the last two months, there have been no stories of foreign English teachers behaving badly. The last such story was an "exclusive" Ohmynews article from April 5 titled "Foreign English instructor who assaulted taxi driver 'disappears,'" about an "American English instructor in Daejeon who violently assaulted a taxi driver" (as opposed to committing a non-violent assault) after refusing to pay a 4,400 won fare and disappeared after the police investigation, possibly having left the country, leaving the victim's family angry.

This story might sound familiar, as it's similar to this case that occurred in Gwangju last year, both in its details (American teacher investigated for assaulting taxi driver flees country), and in its ability to attract leftist attention (Ohmynews in the most recent case, Gwangju & Jeollanam-do People for Peace and Reunification in last year's case). Such negative attention by the far left directed at foreign English teachers is not common (the Seoul Sinmun and especially the Kyunghyang Sinmun aren't averse to such reports, however - see their interviews with and Op-eds by former AES leader Mr. Lee). Though there are aberrations (like the 'foreign instructors are vampires' reports by Pressian and the aforementioned article by Ohmynews), the Hankyoreh and Ohmynews generally never cast negative looks in foreign teachers' direction, but I guess the 'American beating up a taxi driver' tale, which likely comes off as seeming rather USFK-ish, is too difficult to resist.

At any rate, two months have gone by with nary a report of bad behaviour, until June 4, when three news outlets reported the following story, as narrated by Newsis:

'Maladjustment to school life'... Native speaking assistant teacher arrested for millions of won in property damage

Police caught a native speaking assistant teacher who didn't adjust well to school life for tens of millions of won in property damage.

On the 4th, the Gyeongsangnamdo Masan Central Police Station arrested and detained A (33), a Canadian native speaking assistant English teacher on charges of property damage for breaking the door of an apartment elevator machinery room as well as ground wire insulators.

On May 31 at 10:30 in the morning, A damaged the door of the elevator machinery room and ground wire insulators in an apartment in Masan Happo-gu in Changwon, and is charged with property damage to the apartment to the tune of 30 million won.

As well, he is also charged with stealing 32,000 won worth of goods such as beer and ice packs from a fridge at a motel in the Haendae area of Busan on May 29th at 4:30 pm.

A police official said, "During the police investigation, A stated that he came to Korea in March and while working at a middle school in Changwon as a native speaking assistant English teacher found it difficult because he couldn't speak Korean and couldn't communicate well." "It seems that, as he could not adapt to school life, he committed these crimes."

An elevator machinery room? Insulators? At least it's not your run of the mill drug bust, I guess, but I'm sure there's other ways to deal with inability to communicate with your co-teacher. (Also, I hadn't realized Changwon, Jinhae and Masan had been merged into one city.)

Speaking of drug busts, four foreign teachers were reported arrested for drugs yesterday, as related at the Marmot's Hole. Initial reports said that J, an American and either a former English teacher or currently a high school teacher, had brought 264 grams of marijuana back from Cambodia, though this KNN report and others now says it was around 400 grams on two trips ("enough to get 1,100 adults high"), which he sold in bars in Haeundae, with 5 grams reportedly costing 200,000 won. At any rate, he was arrested and detained, and three other teachers, an American and two Canadians, including a 30 year old female Canadian who works at a Haeundae elementary school and an instructor at a hagwon in Namcheon-dong (according to the Busan Ilbo) were booked without detention for buying from him. The woman is seen having her apartment searched in the KNN video, and similar footage with scarier music can be see at YTN here. The teachers were also busted for habitually using oxycodone, but there's no word where it came from. My favorite article title came from the Kukmin Ilbo: "Native speaking teachers who smoke drugs and teach elementary school-aged children arrested."

The KNN video adds the following:

An American native speaking instructor was arrested after taking drugs bought through international mail in 2010 as well, and it is estimated that drug use like this is widespread among native speaking instructors.

Byeon U-cheol, head of the drug investigation division of the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency: "At places like the National Institute of Scientific Investigation, hair tests can test for drug compounds up to 3-4 months, but because native speaking teachers have a urine test, they are not [can't be] tested 3-4 days after [drug use]."

It's not clear that he's referring to the drug test foreign teachers must take, but that would seem to be a fair assumption. Is this perhaps a hint that hair tests should be added to the drug tests, just to make them that much more comprehensive (and expensive)? I have no idea, really, but I do think urine testing can detect drugs beyond a mere 3-4 days, especially for regular users.

Perhaps this arrest may explain why a police officer from the drug crime division of the Busan police left a message at Anti English Spectrum a week ago soliciting tips (here, first result).

At the moment, there are 18 articles that a Naver search turns up on this bust - quite a bit more than the three for the elevator smasher or one for the taxi assault, so one could surmise that Korean news outlets like to report on foreign teachers with drugs. But how does this compare to recent arrests for Korean drug users?

On June 5, the Korean Coast Guard arrested 3 divers and booked another for taking drugs to unburden themselves of the fatigue of working in the water. The men had 3-7 years diving experience (diving for seafood like abalone and sea cucumber) and had taken meth and soju or smoked pot several times since October last year in vicinity of the Seosan bus terminal. This was reported in 10 articles, some being from small internet outlets, some from local papers (Gyeonggi Ilbo, Gyeonggi Sinmun, Incheon Sinmun), and some from mainstream news (YTN, Kookmin Ilbo, SBS)

Also on June 5, Newsis reported that 46 people had been caught for meth in Jinju, with 14 being arrested and detained, and 32 being booked without detention. The dealer got the drugs from another dealer he met in prison. The number of reports on this large bust? Five, all (except for Newsis) from small internet news outlets or local papers. Needless to say, the lack of attention to this story (compared to three divers smoking pot and taking meth) is odd, and would suggest that there is no easy-to-discern pattern here.

At any rate, also on the fifth, Kormedi reported on the release of the book (in England) 'Drugs-Without the Hot Air' with its article title stating that alcohol is 3 times more harmful than cocaine. Perhaps this is influenced by the Chosun Ilbo's war on alcohol, perhaps not.

And finally, in some good news, Newsis reported yesterday that the Sundance Channel is showing Breaking Bad starting in July. Five years late is better than never, I guess.