Seoul to perhaps cut even more foreign teachers

[Update: The Korea Times has two stories on this.]

Yesterday Yonhap (and a dozen other outlets) published the following story:

Native speaking assistant teachers disappearing from Seoul middle and high schools.

Native speaking assistant teachers receiving training (file photo)

From February next year all will be cut, only some in autonomous districts and elementary schools will remain

"Korean English teachers fluent in conversation who teach well preferred most"

This year will be the last year for Seoul middle and high school native speaking assistant teachers, who will virtually disappear.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education [SMOE] announced on the 30th that "Native speaking assistant teachers will operate only in elementary schools and personnel placed in city middle and high schools will be totally cut by February next year."

SMOE said by next month, except for 20-30 teachers out of 180 needed to work at Seoul International high school and at 10 English centered schools, native speaking assistant teachers will be totally removed from high schools.

Also, by February next year, except for 4 out of 260 teachers working at English centered schools, native speaking assistant teachers in middle schools will be totally cut.

Native speaking assistant teachers wanting to stay on further in Korea will be placed into elementary schools if they pass a screening evaluating their practical skills in class, their service and their development of materials.

This measure follows the argument that native speaking assistant teachers showed good results in elementary school classes which are centered on conversation, but their effectiveness fell short in middle and high schools where reading comprehension and grammar are given more weight.

The trend of parents of students preferring Korean English teachers also influenced this measure.

Last year, a survey by SMOE of 11,900 school parents found that 62.2% of respondents chose "a Korean teacher with excellent English conversation ability who is good at teaching" as a desirable English teacher.

In addition to those hired by SMOE, native speaking assistant teachers are also hired and supported by Seoul City (118 teachers in elementary schools, 50 in middle schools) and various city districts (gu's) (121 teachers in elementary schools, 36 in middle schools, and 5 in high schools).

Excepting 20 middle school teachers who will be retained in districts like Gangnam, SMOE plans to also cut all middle and high school assistant teachers hired by the city and districts by the end of the year.

There is no small amount of controversy over native speaking assistant teachers, who were first introduced in 1995. Conflicting opinions say they 'are not effective compared to their costs, including living expenses and airfare," or that "It's useful to have them responsible for public education conversation classes."

An SMOE official explained that, "In reality, with the Seoul Metropolitan Council having already cut the budget, it's difficult to retain them. With the increase in the number of young Korean teachers with overseas training experience, we'll see that the quality of public education will not decrease as the TEE (Teaching English in English) certification system becomes widespread.

The Joongang Daily also has more on this, including this:

Of some 1,200 foreign English teachers in the city’s elementary, middle and high schools as of February, 355 teachers were hired directly by the district office.

The numbers in the first article add up to 330 for district office and city-hired NSETs currently - I imagine that the 355 figure counts for both as well and shows that 25 have already been cut. I'm not entirely sure why the city and districts are [said to be] following SMOE - as far as I know, they didn't get their funding cut.

At any rate, none of this is really news. The budget cuts were announced back in December, and in February SMOE announced 425 high school and middle school NSETs would be cut. If there are to be more cuts by the city and districts, then the number will grow to be much larger.

The Kyunghyang Sinmun also published an article titled "Schools in chaos as native speaker English classes are cut without preparation" which looks briefly at the history of the cuts and states much of what we see above. However, it also points out worries at the abruptness of the change, the need felt by parents to turn to the private sector, and it cites the SNU study referred to here when it was released last fall. As the Kyunghyang notes, the study found that there was a need to come up with new ways to place NSETs to make them more effective, but before this could be pursued, the budget was cut. It also notes that, in fact, the study found that most of the Korean teachers who could teach class in English were actually in elementary schools, with only 18.5% of middle school English teachers and 11.0% of high school teachers able to teach in English. Nice to see the Kyunghyang doing some legwork on this.

That study, despite saying a great many things about English education in Seoul (the original is linked to here), has been cited to by SMOE to justify the cuts, as in the article above:

Last year, a survey by SMOE of 11,900 school parents found that 62.2% of respondents chose "a Korean teacher with excellent English conversation ability who is good at teaching" as a desirable English teacher.

Or as the Joongang Daily put it:

In a poll by the Seoul Education Office last winter the majority of parents said they preferred English-speaking Korean teachers.

Actually, more parents said NSETs shouldn't be removed from schools:

62.4% of parents answered that there should be native speaking English assistant teachers, and responded negatively to the suggestion that English assistant teachers be reduced.

What's important is not what citizens think, but what the government thinks they should think. Considering the importance of English education in Korea, there really is a lot that should be said here, and lots of arguments that could be made for cutting NSETs or trying to improve their placement, but nothing is really being said at all. The government technocrats have made a decision, and the public, not having gone to extremes to put forth a point of view in the streets or in cyberspace, will not have any influence on it. Not that that's so different from a great many other countries.

'Cloud Atlas' trailer out

Seoul in 2144?

Almost a year ago I blogged about Bae Doona being signed up to play "cloned human Sonmi-450 in a dystopian Seoul in 2144" in the film adaptation of David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas. An extended trailer was just released a few days ago.



That's a pretty epic trailer. More about the film can be found here, including the author's positive take on the script.

The 'Hidden camera sex video' could spread

NoCut News's July 2012 war on white men and foreign instructors

Prologue:
Part A: Foreign instructor lives a double life… Caught red-handed with dozens of ‘Hidden Camera Sex’ tapes
Part B: Yongsan police begin investigation of 'Foreign instructor who secretly filmed sex'
Part C: 'Foreign instructor who secretly filmed sex' 'expelled' from his university

"The Reality and Twisted Values of Some White Men" Series:
Part 1: 'Chris who appeared on Superstar K'... inquiring into what happened [Korean]
Part 2: Internet awash with 'ways to seduce Korean women'
Part 3: What is the reason elementary school native speaking instructors get their hands on drugs?
Part 4: 'Korean women are beautiful, have a drink with me" - the night streets of Itaewon (scroll down)
Part 5: 'Unqualified foreign instructors' can't help but abound.
Part 6: "Charged with a crime, but whatever"... If they look white, it's OK?
Part 7: A foreign English instructor: "Secretly recorded sex? That's really disgusting."
Part 8: After the 'hidden camera sex' report... victim hurt again through 'comment terror'
Part 9: The 'Hidden camera sex video' could spread... anxious police, idle university

NoCut News published what appears to be the final part of their war on (some) white men last Friday:

The 'Hidden camera sex video' could spread... anxious police, idle university
[The Reality and Twisted Values of Some White Men, part 9] Police: "We absolutely must block the spread of the videos"

CBS NoCut News exclusively reported on the issue of the native speaking English instructor working at a well known private university's language hagwon who secretly filmed sex with Korean women and is keeping around 20 videos.

After the report went out, Police immediately launched an investigation and the school immediately fired the native speaking instructor. With this incident CBS NoCut News has taken the opportunity to trace back the realities and twisted values of some white men who are representative of native speaking instructors.

On the 20th, the ninth article in the series accuses the university of having an idle attitude and being passive in regard to preparing measures to prevent a recurrence because criminal charges have not been determined. [Editor's note]


"With the hidden camera incident, the most urgent thing is to unconditionally stop the spread of the video. If it is taken out of the country by someone and uploaded to a server run by a foreigner, there won't be anything we can do."

The police official investigating the incident of A, the native speaking instructor working at the language hagwon of a well known private university in the Seoul area who secretly videoed sex, stamped his feet.

This is because it's known that A, an American, plans to leave the country after two months, but the investigation is not progressing easily.

Police obtained the problematic videos belonging to A and according to analysis it seems likely he videoed the other party secretly without their permission.

The police official said, "A would be bitter if the other party in the video had given permission to film it, but that certainly doesn't seem to be the case."

This is because before taking the video A can be seen adjusting the angle of the webcam on a desktop computer [secretly so as to capture the other party], and in the video A is seen being aware of the webcam but it's difficult to see if the other women are aware of it.

In fact, in a message sent to the original informant in this case, A says he got permission and took the video, but she also gets out of him the fact he also shot without letting them know beforehand.

The problem is that for the police to move the investigation further along, the victims' testimony is needed, but the victimized women are reluctant to appear before the police.

The official said, "In the case of the 'secret sex video incident,' it's not an offense subject to complaint and it's possible to punish without the testimony of the victims, but to go through the procedure of stopping A from leaving the country and seizing the original videos, the victim's testimony is absolutely necessary." "Currently we are getting in touch with the women in the videos in various ways but there has been no luck to speak of."



Meanwhile, since the CBS NoCut News report exposed the hidden camera incident involving the native speaking instructor affiliated with them, the well known private university has been turned upside down.

The university language hagwon immediately said, "It seems we should first understand the relevant facts" and "In this process, it seems if the (instructor's) qualifications are not appropriate we can take quick action to stop him."

In fact, the university planned to suspend the problematic instructor A's classes immediately after the first report went out, but that was all.

The instructor's lecturing contract itself was not cancelled first. To cancel a contract the school's 'personnel committee' must be convened, but a news report alone did not satisfy the conditions needed to convene the committee.

The University also did not give a specific explanation to the ten or so students attending the instructor's English conversation class as to why it had been cancelled. Instead of having a different foreign instructor take over the class, the class was stopped and notice was given to the students that due to the 'instructor's personal circumstances,' classes could no longer continue.

In addition, it was revealed that measures to prevent a recurrence had not been formally discussed by the university.

A university official said, "Currently the school is busy with this and that and not able to focus 100% on this." "Among officials, we just talked theoretically about looking for refinement when interviewing."

The school said, "It hasn't been determined that any of the victims were our university's students and the main cause of the police investigation is still an issue, and we think it would be a problem to let students know about this simply because they attended his class.

So, he added, "Understand that banning A's lectures is the strictest disciplinary measure the school can currently take."

As the police's suspicions regarding A are not specific, the university reasons that there is a limit to what they can do.

However, even though police acknowledged that A was under investigation, the facts of a suspected crime cannot be reported to a school or hagwon. The school's opinion is just a flimsy excused to sit idly by.

One wonders if the [reported] police certainty that the videos will spread has anything to do with this. As well, I can imagine NoCut News being all burned up over the fact that "a news report alone did not satisfy the conditions needed to convene the [personnel] committee." I'm also curious what "measures to prevent a recurrence" NoCut News would like to see. Perhaps banning foreign teachers (and students) from owning computers and other electronic recording devices would do the trick? Or if that's too harsh, maybe mandating that a questionnaire be filled out by prospective teachers with questions like "Do you like to record yourself having sex?" would be acceptable?

Also, this "message sent to the original informant" - the female tipster who started this whole mess - is rather interesting, and suggests things not stated in the original article:


Most interesting is "I want to make sure u took a video of me." It sounds like she wasn't merely "an acquaintance of Mr. A". As well, "ah... ----- knows too?" suggests she knows one of the other 'victims', and did not merely contact one woman by "snooping on Mr. A’s SNS." With these things in mind, this comment is rather interesting:

Thru the grape vine this girl was a student, but not "his" student just a fellow class mate, which he was dinging, He is in the shower and in typical jealous korean girlfriend style she is going thru his phone and computer, she finds that he was dinging her friend a half a year ago and they filmed it. The present girlfriend goes into a rage and questions her friend who innocently denies any knowing of this. The friend calls him and begs him to go along with the fib to help salvage the friendship of the 2 girls. and trying to be a good guy lies to the girlfriend...and as typical psycho angry Korean Girlfriends go, She does everything she can to destroy his life...I met him a few times and he he really was a solid friendly guy. ...Such is life.
Funny how the news doesn't get involved in the private lives of Koreans. I hope he sues the girlfriend for lible true or not she did irrefutable damage to his good name. Seen this happen before.

I can't possibly confirm if the above account is true (and the news certainly does get involved in the private lives of Koreans), but the details in the chat above do correspond with it, and it always sounded a little unbelievable that someone would lend out a computer with compromising videos of themselves on it. But if it is true, well, you have to appreciate the irony of a white guy trying to do right by an ex-girlfriend prompting a tale which launches a dozen 'white men are the devil' articles...

There's more to say about all of this, but I'll save it for later. What I should mention is that I just realized KoreaBANG translated two more articles, including the 'Itaewon night scene' story (scroll down).

Chungcheongbuk-do to place NSETs in every school by 2014

[Update: And in a human interest story, Herald Gyeongje reported today that a foreign affairs police officer in Geumsan, Chungcheongnam-do was contacted through Kakao Talk by an elementary school native speaking teacher last Friday who asked if he knew how to find her bag which she forgot on a bus. Her friend apparently knew the officer and connected them, and he managed to track down the bag through the company and return it to her Monday.]

Yonhap reported on July 20 that Chungcheongbuk-do plans to place native speaking English assistant teachers in all of its schools by 2014.

According to the Chungcheongbuk provincial education office, from second semester this year to first semester of 2014, around 30 native speaking teachers will be added each semester until there is an NSET in each school.

Currently there are 285 NSETs in 408 of the 470 schools in the province. They've been placed in 256 elementary schools, 125 middle schools, and 27 high schools. The office of education plans to increase the number of NSETs to around 400 by 2014.

The education office's school policy commissioner said, "To increase students' proficiency in English we decided to place native speaking English assistant teachers in every school."

So not every province is following the lead of Gyeonggi-do, Seoul and Busan in cutting foreign teachers, but then most provinces never had the placement rates these cities did. As pointed out in this post, the chart posted here shows that in 2010 Chungcheongbuk-do had the second highest number of students per NSET in the country and the lowest percentage of schools with NSETs. As we see above, with 285 NSETs in 408 schools, there are a lot of teachers working in at least two schools. The increases in NSET placement over the next two years is obviously intended to reduce the number of schools they work in to just one.

Also of interest might be this Newsis article from May 17 titled "Native speaking teachers effectiveness is high at elementary and middle school level"

A study has found that native speaking teachers are more useful in elementary and middle schools than in high schools.

According to a study released by the Seoul education research and information center on May 17 titled "English education effectiveness and utilization of native speaking assistant teachers," the higher the grade of the student, the more they had a negative perception of the NSET's class.

It goes on to state that perceptions of NSETs were highest among elementary school students and lowest among academic high school students.

Mandatory HIV Testing Policy Challenged at the International Level - Korea charged with violating racial discrimination treaty

Some good news, for a change:

The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights has accepted a claim against South Korea filed by a New Zealand woman who was employed as an English teacher in the country. VOA Correspondent Steve Herman in Seoul reports the case challenges mandatory HIV testing for many foreigners working in South Korea.

Do listen to that short report. Now, this will all require a bit of explanation. This Ohmynews article (in English) from 2009 explains some of the background of Lisa's story. When she refused to take an HIV test to renew her contract at a public school in Ulsan in 2009, she filed a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, which ultimately rejected her complaint. She also put in a request to the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board (KCAB) for non-adversarial mediation with her school which they refused. The case then went into arbitration where after two years the arbitration board ruled against her as well. With such 'domestic remedies' exhausted, there was another option: The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), which is a United Nations convention.

The ROK has been a party to the ICERD since 1978 and has declared that the treaty "has the same authority of domestic law and does not necessitate additional legislation."

The "Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) [which] is the body of independent experts that monitors implementation of the Convention [...] by its State parties", has noted that "although the Convention forms part of the domestic law and is directly applicable in the courts of the State party, there are no court decisions which contain references to or confirm the direct applicability of its provisions." The CERD has said the situation may be the result of "a lack of awareness of the availability of legal remedies." CERD was cited in the complaint to the NHRCK and during arbitration, but it was ignored by both the NHRCK and the KCAB.

As for the available legal remedies, the Republic of Korea is party not only to the ICERD, but also party to the convention's optional protocol, which allows individuals to bring a case against the state itself. (Not every country is party to this protocol, as this article (which will reward close readers) by Benjamin Wagner (Lisa's attorney) points out. The optional protocol, Article 14, allows for the examination of complaints by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Complaints are first ruled admissible or inadmissible, and if admissible (as Lisa's case is), they are then ruled on to see if they are in violation of the convention or not. The ROK has 4 months to respond, and Lisa then has two months to reply to their response before a judgement is made.

So, not only is Korea on the hook for using HIV testing as a "proxy for racial discrimination," but this is also the first time CERD's optional protocol has been used by an individual to bring a case against the Republic of Korea.

This should all make for some interesting developments in the days and months ahead.

After the 'hidden camera sex' report... victim hurt again through 'comment terror'

NoCut News's July 2012 war on white men and foreign instructors

Prologue:
Part A: Foreign instructor lives a double life… Caught red-handed with dozens of ‘Hidden Camera Sex’ tapes
Part B: Yongsan police begin investigation of 'Foreign instructor who secretly filmed sex'
Part C: 'Foreign instructor who secretly filmed sex' 'expelled' from his university

"The Reality and Twisted Values of Some White Men" Series:
Part 1: 'Chris who appeared on Superstar K'... inquiring into what happened [Korean]
Part 2: Internet awash with 'ways to seduce Korean women'
Part 3: What is the reason elementary school native speaking instructors get their hands on drugs?
Part 4: 'Korean women are beautiful, have a drink with me" - the night streets of Itaewon (scroll down)
Part 5: 'Unqualified foreign instructors' can't help but abound.
Part 6: "Charged with a crime, but whatever"... If they look white, it's OK?
Part 7: A foreign English instructor: "Secretly recorded sex? That's really disgusting."
Part 8: After the 'hidden camera sex' report... victim hurt again through 'comment terror'
Part 9: The 'Hidden camera sex video' could spread... anxious police, idle university

Part 8: After the 'hidden camera sex' report... victim hurt again through 'comment terror'

Thursday morning NoCut News added another installment to their campaign to alert Korea to the dangers posed by 'some' white men, in particular foreign instructors. As can be seen in these translated comments to their original article about the foreign instructor who made hidden camera videos of sex with Korean women, the response of most (male) netizens was not entirely supportive of the victims:

Crazy bitches. If there’s a bastard Westerner they just go nuts and spread their legs for him."

They became the target of a crime because they dated a foreigner

Falling into a new form of sadae; if there’s a foreign bastard, they just can’t help themselves, the sluts are just crazy.

Those kimchi girls will start dribbling and throbbing if they even see something like a white guy[.] In fact, in their own countries they are total losers, but this is about the level of a kimchi bitch[.] Slut-queens of South-East Asia.

NoCut News decided to find out what was behind this.

After the 'hidden camera sex' report... victim hurt again through 'comment terror'
[The Reality and Twisted Values of Some White Men, part 8] Why has the finger been pointed at the victimized women instead?
CBS NoCut News exclusively reported on the issue of the native speaking English instructor working at a well known private university's language hagwon who secretly filmed sex with Korean women and is keeping around 20 videos.

After the report went out, Police immediately launched an investigation and the school immediately fired the native speaking instructor. With this incident CBS NoCut News has taken the opportunity to trace back the realities and twisted values of some white men who are representative of native speaking instructors.

On the 20th, the eighth article in the series addresses the serious second round of victimization such as strong criticism faced by victims of sex crimes by foreigners. [Editor's note]


After CBS NoCut News's articles about the foreign instructor who worked at the language hagwon of a well known private university who 'secretly videoed sex' came out, most of the hundreds of comments on the articles pointed not to the male perpetrator but to the victimized women as 'providing the cause' of the crime.

Most comments denigrated the victimized women, calling them "Kimchi [bitch]", or saying 'It's the fault of the women who are eager to learn English," or "It's a problem with women who like and cling to white people."

Why are the female victims of sex crime by foreigners not recognized as such when compared to [victims of] ordinary sex crimes?

Expert analysis commonly finds the cause to be that the experience of the Japanese colonial era and the stationing of US troops led to hostility towards men from powerful nations.

Joongang University Professor of Sociology Lee Na-young explained that "There is guilt over the inability to protect Korean women in the history of foreign invasion and a perception that they are losing women to foreign men."

Because of these feelings of guilt or a sense of inferiority they shift the blame from the foreign male assailants who caused the sex crime to the female victims who are "muddying the bloodline or not protecting their chastity."

Experts add that seeing a Korean woman walking down the street with a white man as a 'sex worker' is part of the same phenomenon.

It's also pointed out that especially in cases where there's an obvious sex criminal, but he's a foreigner, the so called 'theory that the victim caused it' in which 'the victim is more responsible' stands out.

In fact, in court there are also often cases in which the 'theory that the victim caused it' is applied with "she was wearing a short skirt" or "she provided a reason first" and the perpetrator's [punishment] is reduced.

Gyeonggi University professor of criminal psychology Lee Su-jeong explained that in cases of sex crimes by foreigners, the 'theory that the victim caused it' has more persuasive power.

Professor Lee pointed out that, "As the 'rarity' of foreigners brings more attention, there is a tendency for the 'theory that the victim caused it' to be amplified.

There are voices that also advise that to change public opinion which shifts responsibility to the women, "Women's choices should be respected."

Network for Glocal Activism secretary general Na-young said, "Which man a woman meets is her personal choice." Of the focus on and criticism of only women who have sex with foreign men, she criticized it saying it was"because women have a preconceived notion that they should be picked by a partner and not choose for themselves."

Most experts also said that the seriousness of the second round of harm victims undergo due to the 'knee-jerk tossing out of comments' should be considered.

Joongang University Professor Lee Na-young said it was regrettable that "Discussion blaming the victim is an issue of privacy but the women feel guilty." "Even though the men are legally punished, the women are socially punished."

Women's Sexual Violence Relief Center Hotline director Yu-Lee Hwa-young emphasized that due to public opinion which asserts that "For the reason that they date foreigners alone, they are more likely to be exposed to crime" and which sees themselves as the cause of sex crime, it is more difficult for these women to report it.

There's some good analysis there, though one wonders, if these women are being victimized by Korean men, why this article is part of a series titled "The Reality and Twisted Values of Some White Men." One might also wonder if articles like those in this series which make assertions like this -

In particular, information abounds which instills false stereotypes regarding Korean women such as the idea that you can make a girlfriend on your second day in the country or that in two years you can have sex with 20 women.

- or this -

"I think such incidents are not completely the responsibility of foreign instructors." "It's also a problem of some Korean women who want to learn English and thoughtlessly approach some foreigners[.]"

- also contribute to this problem. Of course, this is not for NoCut News to ask, apparently. At least they aren't entering the 'irony free zone' and declaring "Native speaking teachers only protest articles criticizing them without reflection" like Chosun.com did during its 'July madness' anti foreign teacher series of 2009.

Also, as for this -

[T]he experience of the Japanese colonial era and the stationing of US troops led to hostility towards men from powerful nations.

- it should be noted that it's not in the experience so much as in how it has been remembered - as an endless series of victimization and humiliations - where the problem lays. Not that they said there was any problem with this idea.

At any rate, two articles with a similar feminist analysis published during the English Spectrum incident in 2005, "Korean men have no excuse" and Dirty Korean women who have brought shame to the country?, are both worth reading. Again, the similarity between the way the women in 2005 were victimized by netizens and the comments left in regard to this incident should make it clear how relevant the 2005 material is.

NoCut News published a ninth installment Friday morning - who knows what Saturday will bring?

A foreign English instructor: "Secretly recorded sex? That's really disgusting."

NoCut News's July 2012 war on white men and foreign instructors

Prologue:
Part A: Foreign instructor lives a double life… Caught red-handed with dozens of ‘Hidden Camera Sex’ tapes
Part B: Yongsan police begin investigation of 'Foreign instructor who secretly filmed sex'
Part C: 'Foreign instructor who secretly filmed sex' 'expelled' from his university

"The Reality and Twisted Values of Some White Men" Series:
Part 1: 'Chris who appeared on Superstar K'... inquiring into what happened [Korean]
Part 2: Internet awash with 'ways to seduce Korean women'
Part 3: What is the reason elementary school native speaking instructors get their hands on drugs?
Part 4: 'Korean women are beautiful, have a drink with me" - the night streets of Itaewon (scroll down)
Part 5: 'Unqualified foreign instructors' can't help but abound.
Part 6: "Charged with a crime, but whatever"... If they look white, it's OK?
Part 7: A foreign English instructor: "Secretly recorded sex? That's really disgusting."
Part 8: After the 'hidden camera sex' report... victim hurt again through 'comment terror'
Part 9: The 'Hidden camera sex video' could spread... anxious police, idle university

Part 7: A foreign English instructor: "Secretly recorded sex? That's really disgusting."

NoCut News published another installment of their "The Reality and Twisted Values of Some White Men" series on Thursday, which focused on foreign instructors. This time they find a useful idiot (or simply invent one through creative writing) who parrots the same messages we've seen in the other articles of this series which described the mad, mad world of white male / Korean female relations.

A foreign English instructor: "Secretly recorded sex? That's really disgusting."
[The Reality and Twisted Values of Some White Men, part 7] Sighs, "That would be shocking in any culture"
CBS NoCut News exclusively reported on the issue of the native speaking English instructor working at a well known private university's language hagwon who secretly filmed sex with Korean women and is keeping around 20 videos. After the report went out, Police immediately launched an investigation and the school immediately fired the native speaking instructor. With this incident CBS NoCut News has taken the opportunity to trace back the realities and twisted values of some white men who are representative of native speaking instructors. On the 19th, the seventh article explores future countermeasures through an interview with a native speaking instructor who has heard of the incident. [Editor's note]


"He secretly recorded sex? That's really disgusting."

Adams, an American English instructor we met at an English hagwon in Gangnam, had a look of complete disbelief on his face.

As Adams heard the story of the deviance of a foreign instructor who worked at the language hagwon of a well known private university brought to light by a CBS NoCut News article, his face was often contorted.

He sighed, "In any culture, in any country, this would be a shocking incident."

In four years teaching in Korea, he has heard rumours and guessed that some inappropriate relationships take place between foreign men and Korean women.

"If you go to Hongdae or Itaewon late at night, these things happen a lot. Among my friends there aren't any foreign men like that, but when I first came to Korea, I sometimes heard stories about people like that."

This is not a common phenomenon, however, in truth, there was talk of not a few situations which occur that lead to Korean citizens' anger and misunderstanding.

In particular, these meetings [with women] in particular nightlife spots foreigners frequent were something he explained.

Adams revealed his thoughts on the reason for repeatedly occurring events like the foreign instructor who worked at the language hagwon of a well known private university who 'secretly videoed sex' or 'Chris [Golightly]' who was banned from exiting the country due to accusations by Korean women.

"For now the E-2 visa (the visa acquired to work as a foreign instructor in our country) makes it easy to come to Korea. It's not that concerned with educational background, so many foreigners come to Korea with little interest in being teachers."

He also said that our government's system which produces unqualified foreign instructors in large quantities urgently needs to be improved.

He also pointed out that the personal issues of problem-causing foreign instructors are "due to some instructors without a sense of duty who think they'll just come to Korea for fun and create a festival atmosphere."

"I think such incidents are not completely the responsibility of foreign instructors." "It's also a problem of some Korean women who want to learn English and thoughtlessly approach some foreigners," he added carefully.

"Not long after I came to Korea I was in Itaewon and a Korean women approached me saying 'I want to learn English.' It was a little uncomfortable to have such a meeting on the street, so I'd advise using a site where you can chat with foreigners."

In the end, rather than generalizing this problem as a racial, national or cultural issue, Adams things that one should see it as a difference in individual tendencies or ways of thinking.

As well, among his acquaintances there are also many "Korean - foreigner couples" who met in healthy and beautiful ways, so he was wary of 'making the mistake of rash generalization."

Again, I have to wonder if 'Adams' even exists, though the 'there are lots of foreigners like that, but not me" types certainly are out there. Still, having a member of the group you're criticizing come out and agree with everything you've been saying helps to justify it, with those last two 'see, we aren't racist' paragraphs doing little to counteract the overall message put forth in twelve (as of today) articles over nine days. The important messages here are that he "guessed that some inappropriate relationships take place between foreign men and Korean women," and his description of the "problem of some Korean women who want to learn English and thoughtlessly approach some foreigners" which makes even foreign men "uncomfortable" - best to do it in a mediated way through the internet. Not that there isn't lots to amuse with this piece, what with Adams saying it's "really disgusting" with a "contorted" "look of complete disbelief on his face." We also have fun constructions such as saying it's "not a common phenomenon, however, in truth[...]," something which reminds me of this NoCut News article.

In another article published yesterday, and one more this morning, NoCut News returns to the story of the foreign instructor who 'secretly record sex' which inspired this wonderful series.

"Charged with a crime, but whatever"... If they look white, it's OK?

NoCut News's July 2012 war on white men and foreign instructors

Prologue:
Part A: Foreign instructor lives a double life… Caught red-handed with dozens of ‘Hidden Camera Sex’ tapes
Part B: Yongsan police begin investigation of 'Foreign instructor who secretly filmed sex'
Part C: 'Foreign instructor who secretly filmed sex' 'expelled' from his university

"The Reality and Twisted Values of Some White Men" Series:
Part 1: 'Chris who appeared on Superstar K'... inquiring into what happened [Korean]
Part 2: Internet awash with 'ways to seduce Korean women'
Part 3: What is the reason elementary school native speaking instructors get their hands on drugs?
Part 4: 'Korean women are beautiful, have a drink with me" - the night streets of Itaewon (scroll down)
Part 5: 'Unqualified foreign instructors' can't help but abound.
Part 6: "Charged with a crime, but whatever"... If they look white, it's OK?
Part 7: A foreign English instructor: "Secretly recorded sex? That's really disgusting."
Part 8: After the 'hidden camera sex' report... victim hurt again through 'comment terror'
Part 9: The 'Hidden camera sex video' could spread... anxious police, idle university

Part 6: "Charged with a crime, but whatever"... If they look white, it's OK?

NoCut News published two more installments to their "The Reality and Twisted Values of Some White Men" series on Tuesday (and another today), all focusing on foreign instructors. The second one relies on the hypothetical and doesn't even present a single example to suggest that police should have different policies when investigating foreign instructors.

"Charged with a crime, but whatever"... If they look white, it's OK?
[The Reality and Twisted Values of Some White Men, part 6] Even charged with/suspected of a crime, they can openly teach... loopholes in the native speaking instructor system

CBS NoCut News exclusively reported on the issue of the native speaking English instructor working at a well known private university's language hagwon who secretly filmed sex with Korean women and is keeping around 20 videos.

After the report went out, Police immediately launched an investigation and the school immediately fired the native speaking instructor. With this incident CBS NoCut News has taken the opportunity to trace back the realities and twisted values of some white men who are representative of native speaking instructors.

On the 18th, the seventh article will look into the world of native speaking instructors charged with/suspected of crimes who teach English classes openly. [Editor's note]

After a CBS report made it known that A (30), a native speaking instructor working at a language hagwon affiliated with a private university in Seoul, had videoed sex with his girlfriends and kept the files, the university removed him from the classroom on July 12.

A university official said, "Once the facts of the sex crime were brought up, the instructor's lectures were stopped." "There is one month left in his contract period, but we can terminate it," he said.

In truth, what made it possible for the university to take this measure was because A's crime was made known. However in most cases, even though a native speaking instructor is being investigated on suspicion of committing a crime, if they are not arrested they can continue to teach.

This is because police cannot alert hagwons or schools to the fact that they are suspects. An official at the Seoul metropolitan police international crime investigation division said, "We don't notify private hagwons or private universities that aren't national institutions or national public universities (of the fact of an investigation)."

As well, though one cannot teach if one's workplace learns of an investigation, one can move to another hagwon to work.

B, a native speaking instructor working at an English hagwon in Seoul, said, "Because there are so many English hagwons around, demand for native speaking instructors far outstrips supply."

Even worse, there are not a few places which will unconditionally hire those without any qualifications as long as they are white and just speak English.

An official from native speaking instructor recruiting company C said, "Checks can be lax when places like gyoseupso (institutes), which cannot hire native speakers, hire without checking qualifications as long as they are a foreigner, and at hagwons as well when the owners hire through people that they know."

As well, though punishment of native speaking instructors who have been charged with crimes may have been decided upon, if they receive fines of less than 3 million won, they can be advised to leave the country, but cannot be deported. Though punishment may have been decided on, if they want to they can work again as instructors.

According to the hagwon industry, the supply of native speaking instructors throughout the country is over 30,000, but at the end of last year the number of English instructors legally here on E-2 visas was only 25,000.

In the end, there are around 5000 native speaking instructors who did not come by there place here legally, and voices are being raised saying that this environment in which those who have committed crimes can openly teach children should urgently be improved.

So, not a single example is presented, only hypothetical situations which suggest that foreign instructors could be a threat. As well, one imagines these policies of not telling hagwons of investigations also applies to Korean instructors or owners, who are far more numerous than foreign instructors and statistically more likely to be a threat. But, of course, "The Reality and Twisted Values of Some White Men" series needs content, and so content it shall have, even if it has to be made up.

For example: "According to the hagwon industry, the supply of native speaking instructors throughout the country is over 30,000". I'm sure it wouldn't be that hard to call someone and put the name of a source, or at least refer to "an official from ___." Lacking this, I can only imagine it's made up. As for there being 25,000 E-2 visa holders at the end of last year, the other NoCut News article published the same day stated the the correct figure, saying, "As of the end of last year, the number of native speaking instructors (those who have been issued E-2 conversation instruction visas) living in Korea was 22,541." This mistake would also suggest the writer of this article pulled these figures out of his or her ass. Also forgotten is that around 8,000 or 9,000 of those on E-2 visas work in public schools (which means there must be 15,000 illegal hagwon instructors! Oh no!). In March KBS reported that

Currently there are 15,400 native speaking instructors at hagwons in Korea.

Among these, 10% or 1,500 people are overseas Korean F-4 visa holders who do not need to submit criminal record checks which include a drug test certificate.

While no authority is cited, if you add those numbers to 9,000 or so foreign teachers in public schools, they add up pretty well. While I'm sure there might be some foreigners on tourist visas (or other visas other than E-2 or F visas) working in hagwons, I have my doubts there would be that many. It's been years since I've met anyone working on a tourist visa doing privates or hagwon work, so I don't think it's anywhere near as common as it was, say, around the time of the English Spectrum incident in 2005.

And yes, there is more coming in that series, but with NoCut News now having put out 10 articles in one week on the evils of white men or foreign English teachers, we have a new series on our hands. And just for fun, the headline of the above article ("Charged with a crime, but whatever"... If they look white, it's OK?) echoes the headline of a Kyunghyang Sinmun article from the 2005 incident: '"If they have blue eyes, OK." The rising tide of unqualified foreign instructors.' The more things change...

One piece of information in the article worth noting (if it's true) is that the amount of a fine received that will get you deported has risen from 2 million won to 3 million won.

'Unqualified foreign instructors' can't help but abound

NoCut News's July 2012 war on white men and foreign instructors

Prologue:
Part A: Foreign instructor lives a double life… Caught red-handed with dozens of ‘Hidden Camera Sex’ tapes
Part B: Yongsan police begin investigation of 'Foreign instructor who secretly filmed sex'
Part C: 'Foreign instructor who secretly filmed sex' 'expelled' from his university

"The Reality and Twisted Values of Some White Men" Series:
Part 1: 'Chris who appeared on Superstar K'... inquiring into what happened [Korean]
Part 2: Internet awash with 'ways to seduce Korean women'
Part 3: What is the reason elementary school native speaking instructors get their hands on drugs?
Part 4: 'Korean women are beautiful, have a drink with me" - the night streets of Itaewon (scroll down)
Part 5: 'Unqualified foreign instructors' can't help but abound.
Part 6: "Charged with a crime, but whatever"... If they look white, it's OK?
Part 7: A foreign English instructor: "Secretly recorded sex? That's really disgusting."
Part 8: After the 'hidden camera sex' report... victim hurt again through 'comment terror'
Part 9: The 'Hidden camera sex video' could spread... anxious police, idle university

Part 5: 'Unqualified foreign instructors' can't help but abound.

NoCut News published two more installments to their "The Reality and Twisted Values of Some White Men" series on Tuesday (and another today), all focusing on foreign instructors. The first one gives us some good news regarding changes to the hagwon law revised last year, but the NoCut News reporter wants to strangle this revision in its crib, presumably because the editor called for another negative story about white men.

'Unqualified foreign instructors' can't help but abound
[The Reality and Twisted Values of Some White Men, part 5] Why does the MOE want to push ahead with new revision [to the law]?CBS NoCut News exclusively reported on the issue of the native speaking English instructor working at a well known private university's language hagwon who secretly filmed sex with Korean women and is keeping around 20 videos.

After the report went out, Police immediately launched an investigation and the school immediately fired the native speaking instructor. With this incident CBS NoCut News has taken the opportunity to trace back the realities and twisted values of some white men who are representative of native speaking instructors.

On the 17th, the fifth article accuses the government of absurd administrative expediency in trying to relax qualification requirements for foreign instructors so much. [Editor's note]



In July of last year the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology made amendments to the Act on the Establishment and Operation of Private Teaching Institutes and Extracurricular Lessons, and on October 26 it came into effect.

According to the revised bill tabled in 2009 by Choi Young-hee, a former National Assembly Representative of the Democratic Party, when a hagwon operator hires a foreign instructor, verification was made obligatory and they are required to submit such things as a criminal record check, a health check certificate done within the last month (including drug test results) and a diploma.

Foreign instructors already working here must re-submit the three kinds of documents to confirm them again, but the rate of verification has been slow.

For SMOE, only 9.26% had been verified by April, and by the end of June as well it had reached only 40%.

◈ Ministry of Education is pushing to "omit things like the criminal record check for foreign instructors on E-2 visas"

In this situation, with the revised bill having not even been in effect for one year, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) is pushing ahead with an enforcement ordinance amendment to weaken the 'foreign instructor qualification' verification.

A MEST official revealed, "We are pushing ahead with an enforcement ordinance amendment which will omit the criminal record check and degree check for instructors who have been issued an E-2 conversation instruction visa." "Currently the Office of Legislation is reviewing it."

This official said, "Because E-2 visa holders have already been verified by the immigration office, we see no need for it to be done twice." "We received complaints from hagwons about the amount of time and cost involved, as well as a flood of official requests from businesses (for an amendment omitting the material)."

◈ The ease of faking diplomas makes the revision problematic

However, if MEST's plan for revision through the enforcement ordinance comes to pass, problems may arise.

From the beginning, the purpose of the bill was to stop those attending hagwon lectures from being harmed by criminals working in hagwons as the demand for foreign instructors in Korea increased.

However, in a situation in which diplomas can be easily faked, if the enforcement ordinance affecting the safety system is passed, it's possible things could return to state in which students could be harmed.

In fact, last year an overseas Korean caught by the police who faked an American degree not only posed as an English instructor, but also taught openly while hiding a criminal record in which he'd served time for second degree murder.

The police investigation found that Mr. Kim had easily faked a diploma from a well known university by using an American search site and spending only one or two hundred dollars.

In these circumstances, in the name of MEST's administrative expediency and due to the clamor of hagwon operators, the likelihood of wavering from the original purpose of a bill revised with difficulty gets larger and larger.

It's good to see the government is moving ahead to get rid of the ridiculous requirement for submitting documents to both the MOJ and MEST, and especially of the need to re-submit documents for those who are already here. NoCut News was reporting even back in December that the drug tests weren't being implemented for foreign hagwon teachers (see the article "A stoned native speaking instructor and my child...?!"), and, along with other media outlets like Newsis (which reported "Only 1 out of 10 foreign instructors in Seoul hagwons are verified"), ignored the fact that all foreign hagwon teachers on E-2 visas had already submitted these documents. But hey, when you're trying to exploit traditional fears of foreigners among the public, facts like these are of little interest. And I suppose this is not the time to point out that the claims made in Choi Young-hee's original bill, such saying that it was needed due to rising foreign teacher crime, were unsupported by the statistics her office had.

The article also pushes the idea that if these documents aren't submitted twice degree forgers will be able to sneak in, which makes little sense. As well, the example they give of the overseas Korean arrested in December (when NoCut News issued this report - helpfully titled "Native speaking teachers turned out to be murderers, gangsters, rapists and kidnappers in the US") fails to mention that these instructors were deported from the US, which means they are Korean citizens, who would not be subject to E-2 visa requirements or fall under the jurisdiction of the hagwon law revision (which applies only to foreigners). Nice try, though.

Also interesting is the fact that nothing was said about removing the need to submit a drug test twice. One wonders what this will mean. In March, KBS reported that the

Ministry of Education, Science and Technology plans to confirm whether native speaking instructors working at well-known Seoul-area hagwons [are taking drugs via] a drug test when they are newly hired or when they renew their contracts, regardless of their visa status. [Emphasis added.]

So it would appear MEST may implement drug tests for foreign hagwon instructors renewing their contracts, much as SMOE/EPIK has, despite the hagwon law revision not authorizing this.

Eliminating a wasteful and unnecessary requirement (which SMOE and the MOJ seem to have done in regard to public school teachers) is a good thing, and you'd think that Koreans would prefer that their tax dollars not be spent unnecessarily. After all, a year and a half ago it was reported that "Korea has the most hard-working but least efficient workforce among the 30 OECD nations" - we wouldn't want an excuse for a latter day Jack London to come along and say something like "The Korean is the perfect type of inefficiency — of utter worthlessness," now would we? That might sound as racist as writing a ten-part series on "The Reality and Twisted Values of Some White Men."

As for this series and its calls to strengthen E-2 visa or Hagwon Law requirements, NoCut News might want to remember that these suggested measures will also target another segment of the foreign teacher population - the 46% of E-2 visa holders who are not male - that I believe 'some' Korean men are rather fond of:

Article calls for drug testing of gyopos

On July 12, E Today (not an ecstasy-related news site) published an article about the drug testing of foreign teachers and how gyopos (overseas Koreans) are able to avoid it:

[Korea is not a 'drug-safe zone'] There is enforcement of native speaking instructors, but...
Evading tested-for drugs like meth... If you have the gyopo F-4 visa, you don't do drug tests

In recent years gyopos have been pointed out as the main culprits involved with new kinds of drugs (sinjong mayak). As native speaking instructors have been caught time after time in drug crackdowns, their supervision and management have been strengthened, but as of yet gyopo drug crime management is still in a blind spot. Accordingly, it has been endlessly pointed out that drug testing and investigation into the drug-related criminal records of gyopos should be expanded.

◇ The Ministry of Justice [MOJ] has carried out drug monitoring for foreign English instructors. However...

Currently there are around 23,000 native speaking instructors living in Korea. Because of endless drug problems with native speaking English instructors, last year the MOJ amended the law. According to the revised law, foreigners working as instructors in language hagwons (outside of public education) who enter the country on conversation instruction (E-2) visas receive 2 drug tests per year if they are under suspicion of taking drugs. If after the first test they test positive again, they cannot have a visa issued or extended.

The standards for medical institutions doing the drug tests were also strengthened. To prevent the random issuing of native speaking instructor drug test results, it was made so that employment physical examination certificates had to be issued by commissioned outside institutions.

Nevertheless, there are still many gaps in the management of foreign drug crime. For example, the evasion of methamphetamine, the psychotropic drug that is often sold in Korea and is searched for in drug tests. Because the urine test implemented for foreigners resident in Korea cannot detect any drug use more than 1 or 2 weeks old, if one avoids taking drugs two weeks before the test, they can pass the test.

◇ Gyopo get a pass when it comes to drug tests and criminal record checks

According to the prosecutor's office, from 2006 to 2009, those arrested for smuggling drugs like marijuana were mostly hagwon instructors from English speaking countries. As the countries being smuggled from, such as Czech Republic, Netherlands, New Zealand, have been diversified, since 2010 there has been a change in this trend.

The Korean Association Against Drug Abuse planning and P.R. chief Lee Jeong-sam said, "Unlike in the past where drug dealing in Korea centered on some of them, in the last one or two years drug crime by gyopos has been increasing.

The reason for this increase in gyopo drug crime is that they find Korea's system of managing and monitoring them to be lenient. If gyopos come to Korea they are issued an F-4 visa, but unlike other foreigners, if they have this visa they don't receive criminal record checks or drug tests.

"Citizens for Upright English Education' (AES) member Yun Min-ok (33) said, "Although gyopos are required to submit health check certificates, the reality is that drug test records are currently excluded." "Standards for monitoring not only foreign instructors, but also gyopos should be strengthened."

Most of this article is utter crap (as in, 'completely uninformed'), but it's nice to see someone is still holding the fort at Anti English Spectrum. The Korean Association Against Drug Abuse rep also showed up in Sunday's NoCut News article on drugs. To begin:

Because of endless drug problems with native speaking English instructors, last year the MOJ amended the law.

I enjoyed the endless foreign teacher drug crimes between August 2010 and April 2011, when not a single case was reported. Endless! As well, the MOJ did not amend the law, the national assembly did, and the law falls under the Ministry of Education's control. As well, there's that minor point that drug testing of E-2s began in 2007.

According to the revised law, foreigners working as instructors in language hagwons (outside of public education) who enter the country on conversation instruction (E-2) visas receive 2 drug tests per year if they are under suspicion of taking drugs. If after the first test they test positive again, they cannot have a visa issued or extended.

I think what they mean to say is that, under the new system for E-2 visa holders introduced in January 2011, those who tested positive would be required to take a second, more precise and expensive test (specifically "a GC-Mass Spectrometer analysis to eliminate false positives"). Mind you, with the Ministry of Education implementing the hagwon law drug tests upon E-2 visa holders, some are getting tested twice this year. As well, the visa is already issued when they arrive and I imagine a positive result will lead to a more severe reaction than not being able to get a visa extended.

The article also repeats what is becoming a now known 'fact,' that urine tests are useless outside of a 1 or 2 week window (this page suggests that to be true for most drugs except marijuana, which could be detectable for up to a month depending on how often it's used).

According to the prosecutor's office, from 2006 to 2009, those arrested for smuggling drugs like marijuana were mostly hagwon instructors from English speaking countries. As the countries being smuggled from, such as Czech Republic, Netherlands, New Zealand, have been diversified, since 2010 there has been a change in this trend.

"Mostly hagwon instructors"? What a load of crap. When there was an increase in the number of foreign teachers arrested for smuggling in 2010 (the year the article says the trend in foreign teacher smuggling changed!), and it was even reported that "The main culprits in drug smuggling are native teachers", they actually made up 14% of those arrested in 2010 for smuggling. Obviously that number is quite high, but it's hardly in 'main culprit' territory. Needless to say, the assertions in the paragraph above can only have been made up.

In fact, those most responsible for drug smuggling into Korea, and indeed, throughout the world, during those heady years of 2006 to 2009, were a particular group of leprechauns from Northern Ireland. Far from being cheerful tiny green-clad midgets traversing rainbows looking for pots of gold, these were I.R.A.-trained agents who had fallen into a new line of work and would bare their fangs and kill customs agents with their bare hands as soon as the question, “Sir, could you open your suitcase, please?” was asked. Unfortunately, their tendency to, shall we say, intermingle led to their demise after one of the more adventurous ones had a one night stand with an English teacher in Korea, which led to HIV being spread throughout this leprechaun community. This, as we all know, then placed these foreign English teachers in a position to inherit a central place in the trade. One of the first things these teachers learned was that you should beware of drugs from the Czech Republic.

Creative writing projects like the above paragraph and above article aside, gyopos working in hagwons should be getting drug tests under the revised hagwon law, which calls for "non-citizens of the Republic of Korea" to submit a "health certificate (issued within the previous month and including the results of a drug and marijuana test)" when applying for a hagwon job. Those gyopos working under EPIK already get drug (and HIV!) tested. As for gyopos in general, I hardly think there have been enough arrests to justify testing 160,000 F-4 visa holders - the government is going to have a hard enough time doing all the testing for the half a million E-9 and H-2 visa holders that's supposed to begin in two weeks. Then again, there really haven't been enough arrests to justify the E-2 drug testing or E-9 and H-2 drug testing, so why should that stop the government? It is an election year after all, and playing to people's fears - and in Korea one of those fears will most certainly be foreigners - is always an easy way to get attention.

What is the reason elementary school native speaking instructors touch drugs?

NoCut News's July 2012 war on white men and foreign instructors

Prologue:
Part A: Foreign instructor lives a double life… Caught red-handed with dozens of ‘Hidden Camera Sex’ tapes
Part B: Yongsan police begin investigation of 'Foreign instructor who secretly filmed sex'
Part C: 'Foreign instructor who secretly filmed sex' 'expelled' from his university

"The Reality and Twisted Values of Some White Men" Series:
Part 1: 'Chris who appeared on Superstar K'... inquiring into what happened [Korean]
Part 2: Internet awash with 'ways to seduce Korean women'
Part 3: What is the reason elementary school native speaking instructors get their hands on drugs?
Part 4: 'Korean women are beautiful, have a drink with me" - the night streets of Itaewon (scroll down)
Part 5: 'Unqualified foreign instructors' can't help but abound.
Part 6: "Charged with a crime, but whatever"... If they look white, it's OK?
Part 7: A foreign English instructor: "Secretly recorded sex? That's really disgusting."
Part 8: After the 'hidden camera sex' report... victim hurt again through 'comment terror'
Part 9: The 'Hidden camera sex video' could spread... anxious police, idle university

Part 3: What is the reason elementary school native speaking instructors get their hands on drugs?

On Sunday morning, NoCut News published another article, this time about foreign teachers and drugs. As Robert pointed out at the Marmot's Hole today, this and the previous article are part of a series titled, "The Reality and Twisted Values of Some White Men." Yes, indeed. As it turns out, these articles, the article about Chris Golightly and another one titled "'Korean women are beautiful, have a drink with me" - the night streets of Itaewon" have - as of Monday morning - had the subtitle "The Reality and Twisted Values of Some White Men" added to them.

At any rate, I think we can expect calls for random drug tests to be a regular feature of articles about foreign instructors and drugs from now on.

What is the reason elementary school native speaking instructors touch drugs?
[The Reality and Twisted Values of Some White Men, part 3]

CBS NoCut News exclusively reported on the issue of the native speaking English instructor working at a well known private university's language hagwon who secretly filmed sex with Korean women and is keeping around 20 videos.

After the report went out, Police immediately launched an investigation and the school immediately fired the native speaking instructor.

With this incident CBS NoCut News has taken the opportunity to trace back the realities and twisted values of some white men who are representative of native speaking instructors.

On the 15th, the third article in as many days will look into the systematic flaws related to rising native speaking instructor drug crime. [Editor's note]


#1. M, a 31 year old American who entered Korea two years ago and who worked as an English instructor in Yongin. In his hometown, A could not break the habit of smoking marijuana and even in our country he bought and regularly used marijuana. A's crime did not stop there. He also supplied native speaking instructors working in Seoul area kindergarten and elementary schools with marijuana, and eventually was caught.

#2. B, a 34 year-old working as a native speaking instructor in a Haeundae area high school in Busan. When B's contract recently expired, he went to foreign countries like Cambodia and bought marijuana, and then transformed into a drug supplier for foreigners in Korea. In May B bought 264 grams of marijuana in Cambodia, enough to get around 530 people high, and sold it to different foreign instructors for 200,000 won for 5 grams. In the end, B was caught by customs at GImhae Airport bringing marijuana from Cambodia, and his crimes came to an end.

◈ Rising native speaking drug crime... "Due to lax drug testing and lax attitude toward the law."

As of the end of last year, the number of native speaking instructors (those who have been issued E-2 conversation instruction visas) living in Korea was 22,541.

Police and prosecutors do not have accurate tallies of drug crime statistics for these native speaking instructors, but those on the ground agree that they are gradually rising.

A prosecution official said, "As the number of native speaking instructors increase at private hagwons without a verification system in place, we should see an increase in their taking and trafficking of drugs."

Systemic weaknesses can be found which explain why native speaking instructor drug crime like this is gradually increasing.

According to the revised law on the establishment and operation of hagwons and private lessons which came into effect on October 26 last year, when foreign instructors are hired, a health certificate including marijuana and drug test results must be received within one month of [the visa being] issued.

However there is a flaw in that the drug test in that it consists of only a urine and blood test which can only detect drug use within the previous one or two weeks.

In fact, in A's case, the police investigation found that he had used this blind spot to commit his crimes.

Another cause we can see is native speaking instructors’ lax attitude towards the law when it comes to drug use.

One police officer who had investigated native speaking instructor drug crime said, "When most native speaking instructors are arrested, they argue that they 'didn't know it was a crime.'"

As they think of their home countries which have relatively lenient punishment for drugs like marijuana, they approach drugs easily.

The Korean Association Against Drug Abuse planning and P.R. chief Lee Jeong-sam criticized this, saying, "It's necessary to instill awareness about drug use by conducting random urine testing on all native speaking instructors registered with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology."

The currently used urine test cannot catch regular drug use and the hair test which can detect relatively common drug use should be implemented but in private institutes the fact is that there is not even one place where a hair test is possible.

Accordingly, a sense of awareness can be instilled by conducting random urine tests for drug use which can catch drug use at any time.

Lee Jeong-sam spoke out to say that to raise awareness aimed at the lax feelings towards the law, "Drug related education for native speaking instructors living in Korea should be implemented to make them aware of Korea's drug punishment system."

◈ For solid management of native speaking instructors there is an acute need for a system involving cooperation

But above all, the problem is that the management system for native speaking instructor drug crime is divided between each institution and there is absolutely no well rounded management.

Far from cooperating regarding native speaking instructor drug crime, police and prosecutors don't even release statistics.

A police insider said that internally, the police drug investigation division, which investigates drug crimes, and the international crime investigation division, which investigates crimes by foreigners, each investigate native speaking instructor drug crime but do not easily share information.

In other words, there is no sharing system which would gather the capabilities of each institution.

Korean Association Against Drug Abuse chief Lee Jeong-sam, who is responsible drug prevention education, criticized this, saying, "The immigration office manages the entry and exit of native speaking instructors, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology registers them, there's enforcement by the prosecutors and police, but these institutions do not have anything linking them together."

Lee said, "It's urgent that a 'control tower' consisting of 'one stop' education in regard to suppressing demand for drugs, enforcement, punishment, and prevention be established."

So, let's begin:

Police and prosecutors do not have accurate tallies of drug crime statistics for these native speaking instructors, but those on the ground agree that they are gradually rising.

We have no proof of this, but they're rising. Why? Because we say so.

A prosecution official said, "As the number of native speaking instructors increase at private hagwons without a verification system in place, we should see an increase in their taking and trafficking of drugs."

Without a verification system in place? Having said that, we can safely ignore everything he has to say, since he has no idea what he's talking about (if he exists, I mean, and the 'journalist' didn't just make up the quote). Ever since an amendment to the hagwon law mandating drug testing of all foreigners working hagwons was passed last June (and came into effect last October), there seems to have been a willful misunderstanding of how these were to be implemented. It's been reported that 90% of the foreign instructors working in hagwons in Korea are on E-2 visas, meaning they were already 'verified,' but since last December there have been cries that most foreign instructors are as yet 'unverified.' Beyond the misunderstanding regarding E-2 visa holders, this was mostly because they hadn't had time to get new criminal record checks and drug tests which the local education offices decided needed to be done again. The new law made it so that these tests had to be re-registered with the education offices, and mandated that F-visa holders should do them as well. Now this confusion in the media (which is either willful or due to ignorance) has led to a prosecution official saying, "As the number of native speaking instructors increase at private hagwons without a verification system in place, we should see an increase in their taking and trafficking of drugs." Nice. Also worth noting is that Rep. Choi Young-hee's original bill that this new hagwon law was based on stated that "the crime rate among native English teachers is getting higher," but when asked about this her office said they had no proof of this. And around and around and around we go.

And again we get calls for random drug testing, without any mention of the fact that drug crimes among foreigners dropped by 60% last year or that there were only nine reported arrests of foreign instructors last year (0.05% of the E-2 population - better get those random tests in place now before Korea's buried under syringes of marijuana!). And this is on top of the drug tests to be implemented for those on E-9 and H-2 work visas, which totals over half a million people. Somehow, I doubt the jump from 23,000 E-2s to 500,000+ E-9s and H-2s is going to go very smoothly. And the blame for that will, of course, fall on those receiving the tests, and not those responsible for carrying them out.