For JTBC, consensual sex between white men and Korean women is a "sex crime"

From incorrectly calculated foreign crime rates to tabloid TV

Part 1: Incorrect statistics portray Americans and Canadians as more prone to criminality
Part 2: Yonhap reports on the KIC foreign crime study
Part 3: Joongang Ilbo: "Get a Korean woman pregnant": Shock over manual for foreign men
Part 4: JTBC's "We are Detectives" looks at foreign crime using the KIC report
Part 5: JTBC's "We are Detectives" looks at xenophobia and foreign crime
Part 6: For JTBC, consensual sex between white men and Korean women is a "sex crime"

Continuing from the last two posts about JTBC's "We are Detectives" episode about foreign crime broadcast on March 28, here are some of the more sensational video clips from the show. Up first, footage of foreigners committing crime (from Youtube):



Obviously, such crimes are worse than those committed by Koreans, and very shocking. After the footage and scenes of the audience gasping are shown, we're then shown people on the street being asked what makes them uncomfortable about living in an area with lots of foreigners (there's nothing loaded about that question!). One feels threatened when foreigners are together, a woman feels afraid walking the streets at night, a man says that if you see many foreigners getting drunk, at that time fights often break out. Another woman says that there are many sex crimes by foreigners these days. Yes, with 311 foreigners charged with rape in 2011, that's almost one rape per day. Not quite the 48 rapes per day that Koreans committed on average in 2011, but we wouldn't want to put any of this into context, now would we? Best to show shocking footage and ask leading questions. 잘 했다, JTBC!

Up next is a look at the "manual for getting Korean permanent residency" by taking advantage of Korean women (from a JTBC news report or Youtube):



Since 2003, regarding international marriage fraud, the victimization of Korean women has also increased. The host points to a "manual for getting Korean permanent residency" by southwest Asian men. It says to 1) approach women with disabilities, older unmarried women, or young woman, 2) unconditionally get Korean women pregnant, 3) use English, 4) to get Korean permanent residency, stay married for two years, 5) if you’re caught in a crackdown demand translation. The Korean embassy in Pakistan has even gone so far as to put a warning on its homepage. Solbi then says, "Intentionally approaching Korean women and getting them pregnant can't be real," and Heo Jun says "Misusing Korean women's maternal love is the worst crime."

Funny, I can think of other crimes worse than "misusing Korean women's maternal love." As we'll see, this won't be the only such guide the show mentions.

Up next, a shocking story told by a detective of the rape of a mother and daughter by a foreign English teacher (from a JTBC news article and Youtube):



Park Yong-ho of Incheon Namdong Police Station speaks of a foreign English instructor, a Nigerian, who was giving a private lesson to a high school girl. He not only sexually assaulted her, but the mother, too. At that last fact, the host registers his disgust loudly (reserved for the victimized mother, but not the teenage girl? Or just at the accumulation of crimes?), and the police officer warns that you should be a bit careful. Sam, thankfully, makes the point that to get a visa you need to be from an English-speaking country – which the host doesn’t realize – and the police officer says that he’s right, that the Nigerian wasn’t a real English instructor.

The host then turns and asks some of the women present - Solbi and two of the detectives - how they would react of a good looking foreigner walked up to them on the street. One detective said she'd at first be nervous and wouldn't understand. She'd happily help them with street directions, but if was told she was beautiful... Solbi jumps in and says foreign men have taken an interest in her (Where? In Itaewon and foreign countries) and they say things, for example, like how she looks like Jessica Alba. When asked to confirm this, Sam says that it's unlikely (someone would say that to her), for which he gets a stink eye from Solbi (not seen in the clip above, but in the preview clip for the show).

Not included in the clip above, but in the Joongang Ilbo summary of the show (and the JTBC article linked to above), is the line "In particular, it was pointed out that, as the sex crime rate has increased by 73% in the past three years, government measures are urgently needed." I don't know about sex crimes in total, but according to the KIC stats, the number of foreigners arrested for rape went from 114 in 2007 to 144 in 2008, 126 in 2009, 156 in 2010, and 311 in 2011. (So including the jump in 2011, the crime rate went from 11 to 22 per 100,000 between 2009 and 2011).

The Joongang Ilbo article also stated in relation to the above clip,

A detective at the Yongin Seobu Police Station advised that, "It seems like a yearning for advanced countries and a social atmosphere in which English ability is important [has led to people] letting their guard down regarding foreigners from English speaking countries." "Rather than having blind, reckless feelings, we should pay attention in order to prevent crime."

Needless to say, it's certainly interesting that they went from discussions of rape to 'how would you react if a foreign man hit on you?' directed at the women, who are of course expected to give the 'correct' answer: that as chaste, pure, Korean women, they wouldn't give him the time of day.

As if to reinforce this comes the next clip, which was summarized on the site (for a few days after the show) as below (and has its own article, which is an edited version of the Joongang Ilbo article).

David’s method for targeting Korean women
Making public an actual, headline-making foreigner's "How to target Korean women" guide.
If you're a white man, picking up Korean women is easy?!
Actual "How to target Korean women" guide which made waves at home and abroad
If you first start up a conversation in English and eat and enjoy steet food, you're good to go?

Here's the clip from Youtube:



David's monologue:
- Through my words alone, Korean women are mine. A girl with thick makeup and luxury bag… I’m looking for a girl who smells of money. If I can get that girl from a good family, I can get a million won a month in spending money!
He approaches her and says in Korean 'chogiyo,' but then thinks to himself, 'no no no – use English! Korean women really like foreign men who speak English!'
"Would you like to drink something with me?"
- Korean women have a weakness for having their appearance complimented. Especially saying her small torn eyes are charming will make her fall head over heels. Also, if I tell her she’s slim, she’ll never forget it.
"I really love your eyes. You have beautiful eyes, seriously. How can be so skinny? Amazing."
"Really?"
"Yes."
- You might hate holding hands when hanging out with a Korean woman. But you must hold her hand! Why? If she has a white boyfriend, she’ll feel flattered and more confident.
They then eat at a street food stall. He looks disgusted when she offers him some food, but his brain goes 'No no no! Don’t do that! No matter how disgusted you are by street food, you have to eat it. Say that you really like Korean food. You totally like it.' He then says in Korean that it's delicious.
They walk into a bar. He thinks, 'You're almost there. From now to the end don’t forget to act with manners and gentlemanly.'
They drink, then leave; it rains, he holds his jacket over her as they walk toward motels.

It's very clear that this was written by the producers out of a vague memory of the 2005 English Spectrum Incident. The bit about wanting to go after a girl from a good family to get lots of money from her is from the well-known cartoon seen here (a page which is the only result I found for 'Guide to targeting Korean women' (한국 여성 공략법) in Korean. As we all know, the best news programs use internet cartoons as the basis of their research. (Vaguely related is this post about a British Casanova who slept with 1000 Korean women.) The purpose of this clip (as well as in asking the women on the show how they would react to being hit on by a foreign man) is pretty clear, though the separate screen showing the audience reaction helps make it easy to illustrate, if I may:

(Or is "I shouldn't be duped like that slut" better?)

That last slide may be slightly different than the final shot of the clip.

The Joongang Ilbo article summarized that clip in this way:

In fact, the posting of "How to target Korean women" at a site used exclusively by foreign English instructors caused shock. According to the post, when it comes to Korean women, if an English speaking white male shows a friendly appearance and is complimentary and well mannered, they can easily commit sex crimes.

That's right - consensual sex involving a white male = sex crime. Good to know. In fact, 'David'* is now the face of foreign crime in Korea, at least if you try to watch this episode at JTBC using video on demand; here's what we see when we go to the VOD page for this episode:

Of course, considering JTBC is the Joongang Ilbo's TV network, and considering the Joongang Ilbo both started the 'French teacher scandal of 1984' (and published article after article until the visa rules for foreign teachers were changed) and also published the first article about the English Spectrum Incident, I can't say I'm in the least bit surprised. Considering how the final clip I posted yesterday stated that "Unfair prejudice leads to foreigners’ resentment. Perhaps we are also responsible," it would seem that this episode of "We are Detectives" falls into the dichotomy I looked at closely in this post, in which migrant workers are portrayed as victims of Koreans, while westerners are portrayed as victimizing Koreans. This is nothing new; it's been happening for years, and will continue to happen. The main question is: which network will broadcast the next one, and when?



*One wonders how much that actor using English as a second language realized how his (mostly overdubbed with inner monologue in Korean) performance would be used.