My 2009 Korea Herald articles

While looking through old posts for this series, I realized that my Korea Herald articles from 2009 are no longer online. I decided to post them all here. I've included the original urls, even though they're now dead links. Matt Lamers was then working at the Herald and welcomed these articles (as he did the cover story for this issue - which he cowrote with Ben Wagner and me - when he worked for Groove Magazine). 

Data says it all: E-2s are law abiding

Korea Herald, October 6, 2009

On Sept. 24, Yonhap News reported that National Assembly Representative Lee Gun-hyeon had released crime statistics pertaining to native-speaking English teachers and stated that crime by foreign English teachers was at "serious" levels. I find it curious that he thinks this way, because according to the statistics he released, the foreign English teacher crime rate is actually quite low. 

These statistics say that 114 crimes were committed by foreign English teachers in 2007, and 99 were committed in 2008. According to the Korea Immigration Service, in 2007 there were 17,721 teachers on E-2 visas working in Korea, and in 2008 there were 19,771 teachers. Therefore, in 2007, 114 out of 17,721 teachers were convicted - a crime rate of 0.64 percent. In 2008, 99 out of 19,771 teachers were convicted - a crime rate of 0.50 percent.

According to a July 9, 2008 Chosun Ilbo article, the Korean Institute of Criminology reported that in 2007 the overall crime rate among all foreigners in Korea was 1.4 percent compared with the 3.5 percent rate among Korean citizens. 

In other words, according to Lee Gun-hyeon`s own figures, the foreign English teacher crime rate (0.64 percent) was more than five times less than the crime rate among Koreans (3.5 percent) in 2007 and half the rate of other foreigners living in Korea. 

And yet, for some reason Lee calls this low crime rate "serious" and in need of more measures - beyond the criminal record checks, degree checks, and health checks for illegal drugs and HIV that those who receive E-2 visas must already undergo.

Unfortunately, Lee is not the only member of the National Assembly to make exaggerated statements regarding foreign English teachers. In early June, Representative Choi Young-hee submitted three bills to the National Assembly obliging foreign English teachers to present criminal record and health check documents before they can be hired at public or private schools or academies. 

When she announced these bills, she said that 38,822 foreigners were issued E-2 visas and entered the country in 2008, but 22,202 were not accounted for. That the Korean Immigration Service had lost track of 22,202 foreign English teachers was troubling information, to be sure, but what was even more troubling was that she used the wrong set of immigration statistics to determine this figure. 

The source she used was a document listing those entering and leaving Korea by visa type, which presents a much higher figure than the statistics which list the number of foreigners residing in the country. The correct statistics for 2008 show that at year`s end, there were 19,771 foreigners in Korea on E-2 visas. 

It likely doesn`t need to be pointed out that mistakenly announcing that 22,202 foreign English teachers are missing is likely to cause undue worry and suspicion in Korean society of this group of foreigners, but when the Korean Immigration Service pointed out this mistake to Choi`s office, no correction was ever issued.

Additionally, the purpose statements of the three bills Choi submitted to the National Assembly stated that "the crime rate among native English teachers is rising." Representative Kim`s own crime figures, however, show that 114 teachers were arrested for crimes in 2007, 99 were arrested in 2008, and 61 were arrested in the first eight months of 2009. 

If the trend for 2009 continues for the rest of the year, not only would we see a drop in the crime rate over three years, we would also see a drop in the absolute number of teachers being arrested - hardly indicative of the "rising crime rate" Choi uses as the rationale for introducing these new bills.

Lee said that "recent crimes by foreign English teachers are causing the anxiety of students and parents to grow." It might be suggested that it is instead ill-informed, unfounded, and alarming statements made by public figures like Lee and Choi which are contributing to this rise in "anxiety" students and parents are said to feel towards foreign English teachers.

The opinions expressed by the author are his own and do not necessarily represent those of The Korea Herald. More of his writings can be found at populargusts.blogspot.com - Ed. 

By Matt VanVolkenburg                                           (Here is the related blog post.)

Putting statistics on foreign crime into some context

Korea Herald, November 3, 2009

Public outrage in the wake of a high-profile case of child abuse has led members of the National Assembly to turn a spotlight on possible threats to children and end the lax judicial treatment of sex offenders. While this is to be applauded, the manner in which this has been carried out has at times been careless.

On Oct. 19, National Assembly Representative Woo Yoon-keun said that the number of sexual crimes by foreign nationals had tripled over the past eight years, rising from 83 in 2001 to 242 in 2008. While this information is troubling, it would seem less so if the Rep. Woo had bothered to put any of this information in context. Considering the foreign population at the end of 2008 was 1.15 million, those 242 crimes result in a sex crime rate of 20.8 per 100,000. When compared to statistics from the Supreme Prosecutors Office which show the sex crime rate of Korean citizens in Korea to be 108 per 100,000, we see that the foreign sex-crime rate is five times less.

But this is not an entirely accurate portrayal of these statistics. If it can be agreed that children and the elderly tend not to commit crimes, then it`s worth looking at the demographics of the Korean and foreign populations in Korea. 

According to the CIA, children under 15 and elderly people over 64 make up 27.6 percent of the population of Korea. According to Korean Immigration Service figures, children under 16 and elderly over 60 make up 8.2 percent of the foreign population. If these low crime demographics are removed when making calculations, the foreign sex crime rate is 22.7 per 100,000 foreigners, and 151.7 per 100,000 Koreans - meaning in this case that the foreign sex-crime rate is 6.6 times lower. 

While some news media reports in the past have been responsible in pointing out that the rising crime rate among foreigners in Korea is still much lower than that of Korean citizens, Rep. Woo has not put his worrying figures into context. Unfortunately, Rep. Woo is not the sole political voice guilty of this. On Oct. 22, it was reported that the Ministry of Justice had announced it would "revise immigration rules to ban foreigners found guilty of raping Korean children from re-entering Korea permanently," and that this was "the latest in a series of government measures to keep sexual predators away from society."

It`s unfortunate that this discussion of how to protect Korean society from sex crimes, when discussing foreigners, has focused only on past and possible sex crimes committed by foreigners against Koreans and omitted sex crimes that Koreans commit against foreigners. 

A 2006 study, conducted on the behalf of the National Assembly Committee on Gender Equality, looked at the sexual activities of Korean men visiting Thailand and the Philippines and found that Korean men were known for habitually doing drugs and seeking out underage girls to have sex with. 

The National Youth Commission found in 2005 that Korean fishermen were largely responsible for the existence of a teen prostitution industry in the South Pacific nation of Kiribati. A 2003 survey conducted by the National Human Rights Commission found that 12.5 percent of female foreigners working in Korea said they had been sexually harassed by Korean superiors or colleagues. One wonders why more consideration isn`t being given to such sex crimes against foreigners and the need to prevent and punish them.

While every effort should be taken to protect Korean children from sex crime and punish its perpetrators, it is troubling that the only available role for foreigners in the current debate is as potential criminals. Reading such alarming statements about foreigners being made in the National Assembly, one wonders of Korea`s elected representatives truly want, as Justice Minister Lee Kwi-nam recently put it, "to realize a genuinely mature cosmopolitan nation," or if they see foreigners as a threat in much the same manner as the country north of the 38th parallel. 

The opinions express here are the author`s only and do not necessarily represent those of The Korea Herald. For more of Matt VanVolkenburg`s writings, go to http://populargusts.blogspot.com - Ed.

By Matt VanVolkenburg                                           (Here is the related blog post.)

Systematically stigmatizing foreign English teachers

Korea Herald, November 20, 2009

In January 2005, Korean netizens discovered "dirty dancing" style photos taken at a "sexy costume party" at the foreign English teacher site English Spectrum which led to a scandal as the photos were spread by netizens and reported in the mainstream media. These netizens started an online "Naver Cafe" called "Anti-English Spectrum" to combat what they described as "the degradation of Korean women by English Spectrum," though, according to one of the women who appeared in the widely distributed party photos, "Some online articles and the Anti-English Spectrum cafe said we were prostitutes, western princesses and brothel keepers," suggesting that there were other motives.

Anti-English Spectrum, described on their website as "The Citizen`s Movement to Expel Illegal Teachers of Foreign Languages," attempted to disguise their true nature in 2007 by changing their website banner showing Korean nationalist heroes and the caption "Our homeland is protected by the blood of our ancestors" to one showing a child at a blackboard with the title "The Citizen`s Group for Upright English Education." 

Their day to day activities, which consist of race-based profiling and stalking of foreigners, have not changed, however. Anti-English Spectrum`s website is full of updates about foreign teachers that they are "pursuing" based on tips alleging illegal activity. A post on Oct. 14 about the "stakeout" of a female foreign teacher said, "Drugs have not turned up, only a used condom was found," suggesting they search through teachers` garbage. 

In a recent interview, the cafe`s manager even suggested that, instead of calling the police, people who want to report foreign teacher crime should "go through our cafe members (so) we can advise you and alert police." This behavior, however, has not been condemned, but was officially rewarded by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in 2007. 

Cafe members claim to have contributed to numerous newspaper articles and news broadcasts. To be sure, interviews with the cafe`s manager -- who invariably portrays foreign teachers negatively -- have appeared in articles in most of Korea`s major newspapers.

In the summer of 2006, an innocuous news report about rates of voluntary HIV testing among foreigners which mentioned English teachers led the cafe to begin a campaign to stigmatize foreign English teachers as being an AIDS threat. On Anti-English Spectrum`s site, they posted that "foreigners infected with AIDS have been indiscriminately spreading the AIDS virus" and -- perhaps revealing their true concern -- that "Koreans who have had sexual contact with a foreigner will almost all contract AIDS." 

They then worked with a tabloid newspaper and produced a story about the threat of AIDS-infected foreign English teachers which called for strengthening E-2 visa regulations, which was then used as evidence there was a problem when cafe members sent petitions to the Ministry of Justice. An e-mail sent during a bad breakup was pitched by Anti-English Spectrum as the basis of a story carried by a major newspaper in May 2007 titled "White English Teacher Threatens Korean Woman with AIDS," which in its Sports edition carried the subtitle "Beware the `Ugly White Teacher.`" 

That a major newspaper would publish this was shocking, but not as shocking as the fact that the manager of Anti-English Spectrum was invited to an immigration policy meeting hosted by the Ministry of Justice on Oct. 23, 2007. It was this meeting that decided upon strengthened E-2 visa regulations, including HIV tests, something that Anti-English Spectrum -- who had contributed to all of the past negative news articles equating foreign English teachers with AIDS -- had requested in petitions for the past year. 

That this campaign was designed not to protect children or unsuspecting Korean women, but to stigmatize foreign English teachers is suggested by the fact that when an HIV positive Korean man who had unprotected sex with numerous women for years was arrested in March, it didn`t merit a single word on Anti-English Spectrum`s website. 

The opinions expressed by the author are his own and do not necessarily represent those of The Korea Herald. More of his writings can be found at populargusts.blogspot.com - Ed. 

By Matt VanVolkenburg                                           (Here is the related blog post.)

(Note that the last article was published on the same page as "Blurring line between hate, free speech" by Adam Walsh, which was an in-depth look at Anti-English Spectrum; it initially was to include an interview with Lee Eun-ung, AES's leader, but Lee refused permission to print it, and AES successfully demanded the images taken from AES's site be removed from the online article. It was reposted at the Korea Herald's site in March 2010; this is how the two articles looked on the printed page.)

The Rise and Fall of E-2-visa HIV testing in South Korea, 1988 - 2017

Or, how a "Citizens' Group" worked with news media and police to tar foreign English teachers as AIDS threats and convinced a government ministry to require HIV tests for them, and how these were challenged at the national level (which failed) and then at the international level, which ultimately led to them being rescinded. 

Some of this material exists elsewhere on this blog, scattered about (or as parts of other series), while most of the new posts (parts 5-10, 11-12) expand on previous posts by translating various articles, in particular the TV news reports from July 2007. I translated these almost five years ago but just never got around to posting them. Considering the work I put into it back then, I decided I might as well post it all and gather it all together. (This will also convince me to finish my 1988 Olympics series, the conclusion of which ties directly into HIV testing of foreigners.) Elements of this research appeared in this 2012 Journal of Korean Law article written with Benjamin Wagner: "HIV/AIDS Tests as a Proxy for Racial Discrimination? A Preliminary Investigation of South Korea’s Policy of Mandatory In-Country HIV/AIDS Tests for its Foreign English Teachers".

This (for now) collects the series together; once Part 2 is finished I'll place this 'table of contents' at the top of each post.

  The Rise and Fall of E-2-visa HIV testing in South Korea, 1988 - 2017

Part 1: The 1988 Olympics and Korean fears of AIDS
Part 2: HIV testing for foreigners in the aftermath of the 1988 Olympics (unfinished)
Part 3: Anti-English Spectrum begins to link foreign English teachers to AIDS (2006)

Part 4: "Tracking [down] blacklisted foreign teachers suspected of having AIDS" (2006)

Part 5: Using their own articles, Anti English Spectrum petitions for E-2 visa changes (2006)

Part 6: The Chosun Ilbo: "White English instructor threatens Korean woman with AIDS" (2007)

Part 7: News reports on arrest of instructor link him to 'AIDS threat' (2007)

Part 8: Police, SBS and KBS highlight instructor's 'AIDS threat' while KBS interviews AES (2007)

Part 9: Drug arrests, the case of Christopher Paul Neil, and AES's invitation to an Immigration policy meeting (2007)

Part 10: "Illegal native speaking instructors will no longer be tolerated": the E-2 policy memo is issued (2007)

Part 11: Challenging the E-2 requirements by petitioning the NHRCK (2009)

Part 12: Anti-English Spectrum's response to the NHRCK petition (2009)

Part 13: Bill 3356 attempts to legislate HIV and drug tests for all foreign workers (2009)

Part 14: The battle over HIV tests for foreign English teachers (2009-2010)

Part 15: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urges E-2 visa HIV tests be dropped (2010)

Part 16: The ROK lifts all HIV testing of foreigners... except for E-2 visa holders (2010)

Part 17: The Constitutional Court rules on the Vandom case (2011)

Part 18: MBC’s “Shocking report on the realities of relationships with foreigners” brings up HIV (2012)

Part 19: Journal of Korean Law article about HIV testing of foreign teachers (2012)

Part 20: Mandatory HIV Testing Policy Challenged at the International Level (2012)

Part 21: Press release regarding the CERD case (2012)

Part 22: CERD case (and other) updates  (2012)

Part 23: Preliminary results of the foreign teacher HIV testing survey (2013) 

Part 24: Korea Herald asks "Is HIV testing of foreign teachers here to stay?" (2013) 

Part 25: HIV and drug testing for Korean Government Scholarship Program applicants (2014)

Part 26: CERD rules that HIV tests for foreign teachers in Korea are discriminatory (2015)

Part 27: NHRCK recommends ROK government stop mandatory HIV testing of foreign English teachers (2016) 

Part 28: APHA urges UNAIDS to revoke ROK’s status as a country with no HIV-related travel restrictions (2017)

Part 29: Justice Ministry announces it has ended HIV tests for English teachers (2017)

Part 30: Yonhap: Controversy over discrimination prompts Korea to stop E-2 HIV tests (2017)

Part 31: Fringe Christian anti-gay group opposes ending HIV tests for E-2s (2017)

A selection of related articles and series:

The French foreign language teacher scandal of 1984

A brief history of scapegoating English teachers in Korea (1990s - 2007)

A collection of newspaper cartoons about foreign English teachers (1984-2014)

The 2005 English Spectrum Incident

The Achievements of Anti English Spectrum (2005 - 2011)

Inside Story's 2006 articles on the evils of foreign English teachers

The Weekly Chosun on English Teachers (2009)

A closer look at the crime statistics for foreign English teachers (2009)

In the National Assembly: The "undisclosed crimes" of potential child molesting foreign English teachers (2009)

Delinquent foreign instructors, "Freeze!" (NoCut News' Puff Piece about AES) (2009)

Korea Herald: "Blurring line between hate, free speech" (2009)

The February 2010 Donga Ilbo interview with Lee Eun-ung (2010)

A Response to the Donga Ilbo interview with AES (2010)

SBS radio interviews AES's Lee Eun-ung (2010)

Itaewon - 'a loser's paradise' where Korean women are ruined? (2010)

GEPIK drinking parties and sadaejuui (2010)

Incorrect statistics in National Assembly depict foreign English teachers as "part time workers" harming regional English education (2010)

The 2011 Amendments to the Hagwon Law

Uncontrollable 'yougle,' and other tales of drugs and crime (2011)

The budget cuts which hobbled GEPIK (2011)

The SMOE native speaking teacher budget cuts (2011)

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

From incorrectly calculated foreign crime rates to tabloid TV (2013)

The Anti-Refugee Protests: Xenophobia, the media, and citizens groups (2018)

Korea's handling of COVID-19 and the Itaewon outbreak (2020)

A reminder from Yonhap: You need to be anxious about foreign English teachers (2020)

Bill 3356 attempts to legislate HIV and drug tests for all foreign workers

  The Rise and Fall of E-2-visa HIV testing in South Korea, 1988 - 2017

Part 1: The 1988 Olympics and Korean fears of AIDS
Part 2: HIV testing for foreigners in the aftermath of the 1988 Olympics (unfinished)
Part 3: Anti-English Spectrum begins to link foreign English teachers to AIDS (2006)

Part 4: "Tracking [down] blacklisted foreign teachers suspected of having AIDS" (2006)

Part 5: Using their own articles, Anti English Spectrum petitions for E-2 visa changes (2006)

Part 6: The Chosun Ilbo: "White English instructor threatens Korean woman with AIDS" (2007)

Part 7: News reports on arrest of instructor link him to 'AIDS threat' (2007)

Part 8: Police, SBS and KBS highlight instructor's 'AIDS threat' while KBS interviews AES (2007)

Part 9: Drug arrests, the case of Christopher Paul Neil, and AES's invitation to an Immigration policy meeting (2007)

Part 10: "Illegal native speaking instructors will no longer be tolerated": the E-2 policy memo is issued (2007)

Part 11: Challenging the E-2 requirements by petitioning the NHRCK (2009)

Part 12: Anti-English Spectrum's response to the NHRCK petition (2009)

Part 13: Bill 3356 attempts to legislate HIV and drug tests for all foreign workers (2009)

Part 13: Bill 3356 attempts to legislate HIV and drug tests for all foreign workers 

This post could chronologically have been part 11, but the end of the post will make clear why I've placed it after Anti-English Spectrum's responses to the NHRCK petition. 

On December 30, 2008, the following bill was submitted to the National Assembly:

Bill to Partially Amend the Immigration Act

(Proposed by Shin Hak-yong)

Sponsored by Shin Hak-yong and 17 others

Reason for Proposal

Nowadays, the number of foreigners working in Korea is increasing, but a good many have previous convictions for drug and sexual crimes or carry infectious diseases. As we require measures to deal with the threat they pose to our society’s public order and our people’s health, we herein prepare the legal basis to require that foreigners applying for an employment visa submit a criminal background check and a health certificate.

Main Content

If a foreigner who intends to enter the country for the purpose of employment applies for a visa, the foreigner may be required to submit a criminal record inquiry and a health examination certificate issued by their home country (newly established Article 8 (3)).

Partial Amendment to the Immigration Act

Part of the Immigration Act is amended as follows.

Paragraph 3 of Article 8 shall be changed to Paragraph 4, and Paragraph 3 of the same Article shall be newly established as follows.

③ When a foreigner who wants to enter the country for the purpose of employment applies for a visa, the foreigner may be asked to submit a criminal record inquiry and a health examination certificate issued by the country they to which they belong.

Addenda

This Act shall come into force from the date of promulgation.

The eagle-eyed will notice that this bill has the exact same wording as Bill 7642, which was submitted to the National Assembly by Rep. Shin Hak-yong - the same author - on October 24, 2007, the day after the immigration policy meeting to which Lee Eun-ung was invited. After the National Assembly elections of April 2008, that bill expired on May 29, so clearly Bill 3358 was an attempt to revive it. 

The second set of documents on this page (under 위원회 심사 / Committee Review) includes the following review written after the bill was discussed before the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee on February 24, 2009:

Review Opinions

The amendment, which obligates foreigners who apply for a visa seeking entry for the purpose of employment to submit a criminal record inquiry and health examination certificate, is an effort to solve problems caused by foreigners working in Korea who have a criminal record or carry contagious diseases, and while this is a reasonable purpose, the following matters need to be reviewed. 

First, under the Immigration Act, there is ① a single-entry visa that allows entry only once and ② a multiple entry visa that allows entry two or more times, and there are 37 types of sojourn statuses, of which 10 types of sojourn statuses allow employment ranging from professors to sailors. In this way, rather than requiring criminal and health-related certifications uniformly for all 10 types of employment visas, it is considered appropriate to require relevant certifications limited to certain types of employment visas that fall under “reasonable and clear standards.” 

For reference, since 2007, it has been mandatory for foreign English instructors who are eligible for the 2-year E-2 visa (conversation instruction visa) issued only to nationals of seven countries where English is the official language, including the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia, to submit a criminal record certificate and a health certificate checking for sexually transmitted diseases and drug use. 1)

Second, depending on the specific case, in accordance with the legislative policy of the National Assembly, which entrusts to the Enforcement Decree "Matters related to attached documents of a visa" when flexible operation is required, it is considered reasonable within the legal system to delegate amendment contents to things such as enforcement ordinances.

Third, it is judged that the purpose of the amendment can be maintained according to Article 11 of the 'Immigration Act' which stipulates that the entry of contagious patients and drug addicts can be prohibited.

Footnote:
1) In 2007, 80% of those seeking AIDS-related counseling in Itaewon turned out to be foreign white-collar workers and foreign instructors. About 60 countries around the world conduct AIDS tests for foreigners according to the type of visa.

Interestingly enough, the person submitting the document argues against the passage of the bill, saying that the new amendment is unnecessary because provisions already exist under Article 11 of the the Immigration Act (which allows for immigration regulations), with the E-2 visa regulations given as an example. What's interesting is the footnote to the fact that E-2 visa holders already face HIV tests:

In 2007, 80% of those seeking AIDS-related counseling in Itaewon turned out to be foreign white-collar workers and foreign instructors. About 60 countries around the world conduct AIDS tests for foreigners according to the type of visa.

In an op-ed for the Weekly Kyunghyang dated February 24, 2009, the same day as the committee review meeting, Anti English Spectrum leader Lee Eun-ung wrote,

It was also later revealed that in 2007 80% of the counseled at an AIDS counseling center in Itaewon were foreign white collar workers and English teachers. [...] According to the Korean Alliance to Defeat AIDS, about 60 nations worldwide conduct AIDS tests on foreigners, depending on the visa. 

To see how similar these sentences are in document and the article, let's look at them in Korean. The first sentence is from Lee's article followed by the similar sentence in the Review Opinions document footnote: 

2007년 이태원 에이즈 상담소의 에이즈 관련 상담자의 80%가 외국인 화이트칼라 및 외국인 강사라는 사실이 공개돼기도 했다. 

2007년 이태원 에이즈 관련 상담자의 80%가 외국인 화이트 칼라와 외국인 강사로 판명되었 음. 

The second sentence is almost exactly the same in both (Lee first, footnote second): 

사단법인 에이즈협회에 따르면, 전 세계적으로 60여 개 국에서 비자의 종류에 따라 외국인들에게 에이즈 검사를 실시하고 있다. 

전세계적으로 60여개 국에서 비자의 종류에 따라 외국인들에게 에이즈 검사를 실시하고 있음. 

How do we know for sure that Lee's article was the source for the footnote? The September 18, 2006 Break News article, "Tracking [down] blacklisted foreign teachers suspected of having AIDS", which interviewed Lee, stated that "80% of those frequenting AIDS testing center for foreigners are native speaker teachers." Lee's op-ed, however, stated that "In 2007, 80% of those seeking AIDS-related counseling in Itaewon turned out to be foreign white-collar workers and foreign instructors." Lee, however, got the date wrong. As was reported in an in-depth article in the Korea Herald, 

Korea AIDS/HIV Prevention & Support Center statistics for [2007] show that the 80 percent statistic is false. Furthermore, KHAP director Yu Sung-chal told Expat Living that the clinic "moved to Seongbuk-gu in 2006, so it makes no sense to say that the Itaewon clinic sent out these statistics."

As well, I searched Naver and Daum for any mention of the 80% figure in 2007 and found nothing except posts referring to the 2006 article. Not only is the almost exact same wording found in the document footnote, but Lee's mistake is found in both - a clear sign that Lee's op-ed was the source for the information found in the Review Opinions document footnote. Once again, Anti-English Spectrum's influence upon the Korean government - this time among legislators - is clear to see.

Ironically, the fact that E-2 visa holders were already being tested for HIV and drugs under existing laws may have helped caused Bill 3356 to expire without being passed in May 2012.

[Note: The latter part of this post originally appeared here.]

Anti-English Spectrum's response to the NHRCK petition

  The Rise and Fall of E-2-visa HIV testing in South Korea, 1988 - 2017

Part 1: The 1988 Olympics and Korean fears of AIDS
Part 2: HIV testing for foreigners in the aftermath of the 1988 Olympics (unfinished)
Part 3: Anti-English Spectrum begins to link foreign English teachers to AIDS

Part 4: "Tracking [down] blacklisted foreign teachers suspected of having AIDS"

Part 5: Using their own articles, Anti English Spectrum petitions for E-2 visa changes

Part 6: The Chosun Ilbo: "White English instructor threatens Korean woman with AIDS"

Part 7: News reports on arrest of instructor link him to 'AIDS threat'

Part 8: Police, SBS and KBS highlight instructor's 'AIDS threat' while KBS interviews AES

Part 9: Drug arrests, the case of Christopher Paul Neil, and AES's invitation to an Immigration policy meeting

Part 10: "Illegal native speaking instructors will no longer be tolerated": the E-2 policy memo is issued

Part 11: Challenging the E-2 requirements by petitioning the NHRCK

Part 12: Anti-English Spectrum's response to the NHRCK petition

Note: I've updated part 9 by adding in the text of Bill 7642, and repurposed a post from 2009 as part 11.

Anti-English Spectrum's response to the NHRCK petition

After Benjamin Wagner, then a law professor at Kyunghee University, submitted an official petition to the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) regarding the drug and HIV testing of E-2 visa holders on February 4, 2009 (which was supported by ATEK's "Equal checks for all" campaign which encouraged E-2 visa holders to submit their own petitions to the NHRCK), Anti English Spectrum's leader Lee Eun-ung spoke out in the media defending the regulations and criticizing the NHRCK petition.

First, on February 10, 2009, the Seoul Sinmun published an article about HIV testing of foreign instructors which interviewed Lee. It should be noted that two months earlier, on November 14, 2008, the Seoul Sinmun had published a profile of Lee Eun-ung and Anti-English Spectrum and titled "Drug-taking foreign instructors caught after 150-day stakeout" (translated here).

Is HIV testing of foreign instructors discrimination?

When foreign instructors residing in Korea filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission, saying that HIV tests were “discriminatory,” the “Citizens’ Association for Proper English Education,” which carries out a citizens’ movement to expel illegal foreign language instructors, protested.

Kyunghee University law professor Benjamin Wagner filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission on the 4th, saying, "To obtain an E-2 visa to work as an English instructor in Korea, drug and AIDS tests are required, and this discriminates against nationality."

The ‘Citizens’ Association for Proper English Education’ refuted this, saying, “In more than 60 countries, AIDS tests are being conducted for foreigners when they enter employment, study, or immigration, so the claim of discrimination is a fabrication.”

Lee Eun-woong (39), who leads the citizen group, said, “There are not many cases where Korean (Gyopo) English instructors have caused drug or AIDS problems like foreign instructors, and it is unreasonable to approach our Korean compatriots in the same way as foreigners. The immigration policy of every country puts its own citizens first, and this is the same overseas as well,” he pointed out.

Mr. Lee added, “More than 80% of those seeking counseling at the Itaewon AIDS Counseling Center in Seoul are foreign English instructors.” The ‘Citizens’ Group for Proper English Education’ is engaged in activities such as reporting English instructors who commit illegal acts such as drug use and sexual harassment to law enforcement agencies.

Since the end of 2007, the Ministry of Justice has made it mandatory for foreign instructors to submit criminal record and health check certificates when applying for an E-2 visa. The Citizens’ Group emphasized during a visit to the Ministry of Justice that “The health certificate is the only legal safeguard that can block in advance drug use by foreign English instructors in Korea.” 

“The Ministry of Justice is moving to strengthen foreign instructors’ submission of health checks from an enforcement ordinance to a legal ordinance, but the submission of the complaint to the Human Rights Commission could delay the policy.,” worried Mr. Lee.

The Human Rights Commission said, “All complaints go through an investigation process of about three months before a decision is made whether to dismiss them or to recommend amendments to relevant institutions because there are concerns about human rights violations.” “Professor Wagner’s complaint is still under investigation,” it explained. In addition to this HIV test, foreign instructors have mainly filed complaints for things such as being discriminated against for not being white when they were hired, the Human Rights Commission added.

Two weeks later, on February 24, 2009, the Weekly Kyonghyang published an op-ed by Lee. (This was originally translated by another blogger, who gave me permission to use it.)

‘Are Drug Tests for Foreign Teachers Discrimination?’

Last March, 2am. An officetel in Ilsan, Gyeonggi-do. The foreign teachers began to gather. This was to smoke pot they’d bought through a broker they met at a bar in Ilsan. This writer and others, having gotten intel that foreign teachers in the area were planning to restart smoking pot as soon as cannabis was excluded from the medical exam they needed to submit to get E-2 visas, followed them for about 150 days in order to secure concrete evidence. Ultimately, the foreigners we caught this day faced the judgment of the law and were deported.

Foreign Teacher Group’s ‘Equal Checks for All’ Campaign

The opportunity to create the “Citizens Movement to Expel Illegal English Teachers” was a January 2005 post at an online foreign teacher community. Many people were outraged not only at the lewd clubs in front of Hongik University that degraded Korean women, but also sexual assaults by foreign teachers on middle school girls. We voluntarily formed our group so that at least our children would not be exposed to such unqualified teachers. Afterwards, we carried out activities to deport these unqualified teachers, such as seeking legislations and providing tip to relevant institutions. As a result of these efforts, more than 90 unqualified teachers have faced justice.

Another fruit is that in 2007, health checks (venereal diseases, drugs) and criminal checks were included in the immigration enforcement ordinance to get E-2 visas.

Recently, foreign English teachers have petitioned the National Human Rights Commission, claiming the drug and AIDS tests are discrimination based on nationality. The petitioning body is the Association for Teachers for English in Korea (ATEK). On their homepage, they are conducting a campaign themed, “Equal Checks for All!” According to media reports, the association’s goal is to improve the quality of all English teachers and to better protect all Korean students, and the best method to accomplish this goal was for equal checks to be carried out. While petitioning the Korean Human Rights Commission, they are also petitioning the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and encouraging their members to post protests against discrimination to the National Human Rights Commission through the ATEK homepage.

Their claim of discrimination based on nationality appears reasonable at first glance. According to Paragraph 4 of Article 4 of the current National Human Rights Commission Law, section on “discrimination” is stipulated as the following 14: “sex, religion, handicap, age, social status, place of birth (refers to place of birth, place of registration or primary place where one lived prior to reaching the age of majority), nation of birth, ethnicity, psychical conditions such as looks, marriage status (single, married, separated, divorced, widowed, remarried, common-law marriage), pregnancy or birth, family form or family situation, race, skin color, ideology or political opinions, criminal records in which the validity of the sentence has been voided, sexual orientation, education, and medical history.

In particular, concerning employment, the National Human Rights Commission Law defined the act of favoring, excluding, classifying or disadvantaging particular people in employment (including recruiting, hiring, training, deploying, promoting, wages and other articles, wage advances and retirement) as discrimination.

Are AIDS and drug tests for foreign teachers discrimination that run counter to human right? As we’ve conducted activities to expel illegal English teachers, we’ve discovered that it isn’t. According to the Korean Alliance to Defeat AIDS, about 60 nations worldwide conduct AIDS tests on foreigners, depending on the visa. Foreign teachers with AIDS have actually been confirmed, too.

In spring of 2007, our group received a tip from a woman who wanted help. A teacher from Australia threatened her, saying he’d had sex without a condom in southeast Asia and she should be careful of AIDS, too. The tip also said the teacher was loitering around her place, trying to terrify her. After this writer and others pursued him with the cooperation of relevant authorities, he was finally arrested by police in the capital region after living at a guest house in Seoul. It was learned that the teacher had before been fired for molesting a child and had been added to the Korea English Teacher Recruitment Association (KETRA) blacklist.

In early 2007, we got a tip about an American teacher who, while hiding his status as a married man, had approached a woman and had sex with her. This American teacher was teaching children at an educational facility in Gyeongsangnam-do. When we began to pursue him, he fled to the United States; it was later revealed that the female victim had contracted a venereal disease. It was also later revealed that 80% of the counseled at an AIDS counseling center in Itaewon were foreign white collar workers and English teachers. Scandals related to corrupt sexual relations with some unqualified foreign teachers are already widely known.

The same goes for the drug tests. According to the job classification of total drug offenses reported by the Korea Customs Service, 22 of 225 — that is, one in 10 — were foreign teachers. The Supreme Prosecutor’s Office, too, in its white paper on drugs, pointed out that foreign teachers were smuggling in new kinds of drugs. In its white paper, the SPO said the reason for the increase in drug crimes by foreigners from the United States and Canada was the inflow of English teachers. In the case of the foreign teachers caught in southern Gyeonggi-do, they were caught growing and sharing pot in their home, which was equipped with a heater and other equipment. In August 2008, this writer personally witnessed in Itaewon foreign teachers trading cannabis resin for cash, too.

You Must First Take Own Actions Against Unqualified Teachers

In some quarters, they claim that only some teachers are drug offenders or criminals, but making tests of these kinds mandatory could plant stereotypes by making it the problem of all teachers. But when we look at the examples uncovered, statistics, and drug crimes committed by foreign teachers, the National Human Rights Commission petition protesting drug testing will have a tough time earning the agreement of the bulk of Korean citizens.

We are not taking issue with the English teachers’ petition itself. This is because unqualified foreign teachers provided the reason for the execution of AIDS tests and drug tests. More than anything, we have a duty to lessen the insecurity of school parents who entrust their children to foreign teachers. Only if foreign teachers, sensing the stinging glances of Korean citizens, formulate their own measures to eradicate illegal teachers will their petition earn the agreement of many Koreans.

The claim of discrimination also runs counter to the recent domestic opinion calling for foreign teacher credentials to be strictly qualified. Choe Yeong-hui, a Democratic Party lawmaker, said a bill is being prepared to include crimes committed by foreign teachers while in Korea when they seek employment. The petition submitted by ATEK is reportedly being handled by the National Human Rights Commission’s migrant rights team. According to the Commission’s internal regulations, when a petition is raised, an investigation must me competed within three months, and responsible institutions are advised in accordance with decisions by the pertinent committee, such as the Subcommittee on Discrimination. We hope for a prudent decision by the Human Rights Committee.

Lee Eun-ung (Administrator of ‘Citizens Movement to Expel Illegal English Teachers’)

As the next post will make clear, lawmakers were clearly reading Lee's op-ed.

(Lee would later visit Rep. Choi Young-hee, who authored three bills amending laws pertaining to schools, hagwons and kindergartens mandating drug testing of all native-speaking English instructors; the contents of the bill pertaining to hagwons would eventually be applied to amendments to the Hagwon Law in 2011.)

"Illegal native speaking instructors will no longer be tolerated"

 The Rise and Fall of E-2-visa HIV testing in South Korea, 1988 - 2017

Part 1: The 1988 Olympics and Korean fears of AIDS
Part 2: HIV testing for foreigners in the aftermath of the 1988 Olympics (unfinished)
Part 3: Anti-English Spectrum begins to link foreign English teachers to AIDS

Part 4: "Tracking [down] blacklisted foreign teachers suspected of having AIDS"

Part 5: Using their own articles, Anti English Spectrum petitions for E-2 visa changes

Part 6: The Chosun Ilbo: "White English instructor threatens Korean woman with AIDS"

Part 7: News reports on arrest of instructor link him to 'AIDS threat'

Part 8: Police, SBS and KBS highlight instructor's 'AIDS threat' while KBS interviews AES

Part 9: Drug arrests, the case of Christopher Paul Neil, and AES's invitation to an Immigration policy meeting

Part 10: "Illegal native speaking instructors will no longer be tolerated": the E-2 policy memo is issued

On October 28, 2007, five days after the Immigration policy meeting hosted by the Ministry of Justice to which Anti English Spectrum's leader Lee Eun-ung was invited, the Ministry of Justice released the following statement:

Illegal native speaking instructors will no longer be tolerated

 

The Ministry of Justice has decided to prepare strong measures to eradicate illegal acts by native speaking instructors, which have recently caused social problems such as classes by unqualified instructors, drug use, and sex crimes, and will be implemented from December.

In order to prevent an influx of unfit native speaking instructors, when applying for a visa, it will be mandatory to submit a certificate of criminal record check and a medical certificate, and as a general rule those applying will do so to the Korean diplomatic missions in the country of the applicant and conduct consular interviews, and this will significantly strengthen verification of conversation instructors.

In addition, there will be entry restrictions on conversation instructors who disturb order while in Korea, such as using forged degrees to teach conversation illegally, taking drugs, or committing sex crimes, and punishment for illegal employers will be further strengthened, while information on disorderly conversation instructors will be shared and centrally managed among related organizations, so their entry will be fundamentally prevented by strict screening from the visa application stage.

□ Reinforcing conversation instructor qualification verification

In order to obtain a conversation instruction (E-2) visa in the future, when applying for visa issuance, applicants will have to submit a criminal record certificate issued by their government and a self-health examination for drug use and contagious diseases. After entering Korea, they must obtain a health certificate from a designated hospital and submit it to the immigration office.

In order to prevent forgery and falsification of various application documents such as criminal record certificates, applicants will have to submit them after receiving from their government an ‘Apostille’, a certificate proving that it is an official document issued in the country.

Until now, in the case of native speakers who have been issued a visa issuance certificate by the Immigration Office, there have been limitations in confirming whether they have obtained a degree because they were issued a conversation instructor visa at Korean diplomatic missions in Japan and China.

In principle, from now on, they must apply for a visa at a Korean diplomatic mission in their home country, and a first-time applicant must undergo a consular interview, making the visa issuance screening even more stringent.

In order to prevent the submission of forged documents such as diplomas when applying for a visa issuance certificate to the immigration office, the Seoul Immigration Office will organize and operate a document identification team to fundamentally block the issuance of conversation instructor visas using forged documents. 

□ Support for flexible supply of native speaking instructors at companies

In order to solve the shortage of native speaking instructors that may occur due to the strengthening of qualifications for conversation instructors, there is a plan to utilize as instructors excellent foreign human resources, such as conversation instructors and professionals staying in Korea.

[This will involve] flexible operation of the system under the Immigration Control Act that allows for activities other than the status of sojourn recognized (Article 20) and change or addition of workplace (Article 21).

□ Strengthening conversation instructor residence management and employer management

In order to prevent illegal conversation instruction and illegal acts such as drug use and sexual harassment by conversation instructors, joint crackdowns on illegal conversation instruction will be continuously and systematically implemented, and for foreigners caught, action will be taken to deport them while restricting their entry.

Punishment for illegal employers will be further strengthened by notifying the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development of violations of the law and imposing administrative sanctions against illegal teaching academies, so the employment of illegal conversation instructors will be blocked at the source.

In order to prevent native speaking instructors who cause social controversy due to drug use, sexual harassment, and alcoholism from staying in Korea, the lists of problematic conversation instructors, which have been separately managed by each institution, is to be shared with related organizations, such as the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development, and the Korean Hagwon Association, to be centrally managed, and entry will be fundamentally prevented by strict screening from the visa application stage.

□ Expected effects of the measures to improve the conversation instructor system

Due to these measures taken against conversation instructors by the Ministry of Justice, which will make it possible to block in advance the inflow of illegal conversation instructors with criminal records, drug users, and those who obtain visas through forged degrees, as well as illegal conversation lectures by those entering Korea without a visa, such as those on tourist visas, it is expected that public anxiety caused by unqualified conversation instructors will be largely resolved by blocking the illegal acts of unfit conversation instructors.

The Ministry of Justice will continuously monitor the effectiveness of these measures and devise stronger sanctions if the illegal acts of conversation instructors are not eradicated.

As to how these changes were to be legislated, four days earlier, on October 24, 2007, the day after the immigration policy meeting to which Lee Eun-ung was invited, bill number 7642 had been submitted to the National Assembly by ruling party representative Shin Hak-yong. This bill was not passed, however. As Benjamin Wagner described it in a petition to the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, 

12 members of the National Assembly introduced Bill No. 7642 to establish “the legal basis to require that foreigners applying for an employment visa submit a criminal background check and a health certificate.” When this bill failed to establish “the legal basis” to implement these requirements, the decision was made to establish an immediate program to carry out, by extra-legal means, what Bill No.7642 had attempted to legislate. This program came in the form of a “policy memo” (without the proper status of law) created by the Residence Policy Division of the Korea Immigration Service in November 2007 and entitled “원어민회화지도 (E-2) 사증제도개선안내.”

On December 10, the new E-2 visa requirements were released in English, which included, along with criminal record checks and drug tests, tests for HIV status. Here is the E-2 Policy Memo:

As it notes, the 'Background of the Change[s] is the "Serious social outcry [caused by] the unqualified E2 teaching visa holders" due to "news media coverage about those unqualified E2 teaching visa holders." As noted previously, all of the negative articles connecting English teachers with AIDS, even, in one case warning "Beware of the Ugly White Teacher," were the result of efforts by Anti-English Spectrum, who fed tips to the media and then police (or vice versa).

While this campaign by AES had succeeded after little over a year (after the Breaknews article appeared in September 2006), the E-2 HIV tests would take a decade to undo, with the first step in that effort being taken almost a year later when it was realized that the legality of the HIV tests thousands of foreign teachers already in the country had been subject to rested on nothing more than a policy memo.

Drug arrests, the case of Christopher Paul Neil, and AES's invitation to an Immigration policy meeting

The Rise and Fall of E-2-visa HIV testing in South Korea, 1988 - 2017

Part 1: The 1988 Olympics and Korean fears of AIDS
Part 2: HIV testing for foreigners in the aftermath of the 1988 Olympics (unfinished)
Part 3: Anti-English Spectrum begins to link foreign English teachers to AIDS

Part 4: "Tracking [down] blacklisted foreign teachers suspected of having AIDS"

Part 5: Using their own articles, Anti English Spectrum petitions for E-2 visa changes

Part 6: The Chosun Ilbo: "White English instructor threatens Korean woman with AIDS"

Part 7: News reports on arrest of instructor link him to 'AIDS threat'

Part 8: Police, SBS and KBS highlight instructor's 'AIDS threat' while KBS interviews AES

Part 9: Drug arrests, the case of Christopher Paul Neil, and AES's invitation to an Immigration policy meeting

On August 31, 2007, Seoul Police announced that Americans on E-2 visas teaching at a well-known language academy in Gangnam had been arrested for habitually smoking marijuana, with five charged and five more about to be. By September 4 the number being investigated jumped to 23, with most of these reported to be English teachers.

The Kyonghyang Shinmun argued that this was all a part of a pattern of foreign teacher behavior, and described some of the actions being taken to control it.

Cases of drug use by foreign instructors are never ending. In March of this year, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office arrested five former and current native speaking instructors for using and selling marijuana, and in June, the Daejeon District Prosecutor's Office caught a male Australian instructor and a female Canadian instructor. In July, a Canadian instructor from Busan was caught by a customs officer after bringing in marijuana via international mail. 

There are also growing calls for the government to step in and weed out unfit instructors. Nineteen National Assembly members, including lawmaker Shin Hak-yong, proposed a “Special bill for the promotion of English education” in March this year, under which the government would manage the qualifications and recruitment of native speaking assistant teachers, but it is currently pending in the National Assembly. The 10,000 members of the 'Anti English Spectrum' cafe, which aims to expel unfit English teachers, argue as well that E-2 visas should require criminal record checks and medical certificates to check for drug use, and are collecting reports of the harm caused by unfit native speaking instructors.

Once again, AES was being quoted pushing health checks for E-2 visa holders. 

On September 5, the KBS news show In-Depth 60 Minutes [추적 60분] broadcast a report on English teachers which highlighted drug use, forged diplomas bought in Southeast Asia, and the case of John Mark Carr. Falling into the same category as this report from two years earlier, it claimed “about half of native speaking instructors are unqualified” and highlighted the need for improvement in the visa issuance system.

The same day, NoCut News posted an article (translated here) titled "Korea is a ‘depraved paradise’ for foreign English teachers" that quoted an officer with the Seoul police department’s foreign affairs division as saying of foreign English instructors that "the majority of them find it easy to seduce Korean women who want to learn English and do drugs with them."

It was amid this negativity directed at foreign teachers and growing clamor for stronger visa regulations that the case of Christopher Paul Neil came to light.

On October 8, 2007, “INTERPOL launched its public appeal to identify an unknown man photographed sexually abusing young Southeast Asian boys in images which had been posted to the Internet.” Within days, number of people contacted INTERPOL and identified the man in the photo as Canadian Christopher Paul Neil, who was then teaching English at Kwangju International School. Among those that reported him was a former coworker, a foreign teacher who posted photos of him at Dave's ESL Cafe, where posters agreed her former coworker looked similar. (More on how the investigation was carried out can be watched in a BBC documentary (Part 1, 2, 3)). 

By the time he was identified, Neil had fled Korea for Thailand, where he arrived September 11 and was caught September 19. Though Neil was not on an E-2 visa (rather, an E-7), had no criminal record or known history of drug use, nor had he committed his crimes in Korea, the news that yet another pedophile had taught in Korea led to ever greater concern surrounding foreign English teachers. A number of newspapers published editorials about the case (two are translated here). On October 18, the Seoul Sinmun published the following editorial:

[Editorial] The child molester was a native speaker teacher?

It was revealed that a child molester wanted by Interpol, about whom information was shared around the world, stayed in Korea for more than four years and served as a native-speaking teacher or English instructor at various schools and hagwons. It is terrifying to think that this heinous sex offender, who took pictures of himself sexually harassing about 10 Cambodian and Vietnamese boys aged 6 to their early teens and posted them on the Internet, has lived a life in which he constantly encountered children and teenagers in Korea. In August of last year, it was revealed that a man in his 40s who made headlines in the US as a suspect in the rape and murder of Little Miss Colorado had also worked as an English instructor in Korea. Korea has been a "dupe" for a long time, allowing foreigners who speak English to get jobs easily and treating them well, but with this, we really can’t help but worry whether Korea will become a "paradise for criminals from English speaking nations."

The reason why even criminals thrive in Korea is because the supply and demand for native-speaking English teachers is not balanced. The enthusiasm for English learning is so overheated that it is even called a "frenzy," but, as there is a huge shortage of native-speaking teachers, foreigners who have not been verified are indiscriminately hired. According to the data released yesterday by National Assembly Representative Min Byeong-du of the United New Party, 106 out of 2,970 native speaking teachers working in elementary, middle, and high schools do not have a bachelor's degree. With the schools being in this state, we can guess what the scene in hagwons would be like.

Currently, the Ministry of Education, local Offices of Education, and individual schools (private schools) are in charge of verifying native speaking teachers when they are hired. Groundbreaking supplementary institutional measures such as unifying verification agencies and training verification experts should be prepared as soon as possible.

The Joongang Ilbo opened its editorial with the following paragraph:

The insecurity of school parents concerning native speaker teachers and instructors is growing by the day. This is because the teachers’ shameless crimes are growing. Just a couple of days ago, a Canadian wanted by Interpol for sexually molesting small children in Southeast Asia fled abroad after working as an English teacher in Korea as police moved in for the arrest. A while back, there were incidents of a teacher molesting children and a group of teachers smoking marijuana. There must be even more crimes that have yet to be revealed. It’s time to hurry and formulate measures.

Five days later, on October 23, 2007, the Ministry of Justice hosted "A Meeting with Experts and Related Organizations regarding Foreign Native Speaker Conversation Teaching (E-2) Teachers." Invited to this meeting were officials from the Ministry of Justice, the foreign-policy division of the Immigration Office, representatives from the Ministry of Education and Human Resources and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Director of the Association of Foreign Language Academies, and Lee Eun-ung, chairman of the Citizens' Movement to Expel Illegal Foreign Language Teachers, or Anti-English Spectrum.


Here's the post he put up at Anti-English Spectrum right after the meeting:


As Lee described it, he

emphasized that health check reports, [and] criminal offense reports should be included in documents required when native speaker teachers enter the country. Related organizations expressed agreement and said that these would be reflected in policies.

The government wasted no time in attempting to legislate these policy changes. On October 24, 2007, the very next day after the immigration policy meeting to which Lee Eun-ung had been invited, the following bill (number 7642) was submitted to the National Assembly by ruling party representative Shin Hak-yong:

Bill to Partially Amend the Immigration Act

(Proposed by Shin Hak-yong)

Sponsored by Shin Hak-yong and 11 others

Reason for Proposal

Nowadays, the number of foreigners working in Korea is increasing, but a good many have previous convictions for drug and sexual crimes or carry infectious diseases. As we require measures to deal with the threat they pose to our society’s public order and our people’s health, we herein prepare the legal basis to require that foreigners applying for an employment visa submit a criminal background check and a health certificate.

Main Content

If a foreigner who intends to enter the country for the purpose of employment applies for a visa, the foreigner may be required to submit a criminal record inquiry and a health examination certificate issued by their home country (newly established Article 8 (3)).

Partial Amendment to the Immigration Act

Part of the Immigration Act is amended as follows.

Paragraph 3 of Article 8 shall be changed to Paragraph 4, and Paragraph 3 of the same Article shall be newly established as follows.

③ When a foreigner who wants to enter the country for the purpose of employment applies for a visa, the foreigner may be asked to submit a criminal record inquiry and a health examination certificate issued by the country they to which they belong.

Addenda

This Act shall come into force from the date of promulgation.

Getting invited to the policy meeting clearly shows how successful AES's media campaign had been, and though Lee didn't make it clear in the above post at AES's site (nor is it clear in the language of the bill), the health check reports would ultimately include tests for HIV. While criminal record checks should long have been included in visa regulations, and enough teachers had been arrested for marijuana to not make the drug test requirement particularly surprising, all of the negative articles connecting English teachers with AIDS were the result of efforts by Anti-English Spectrum, so the inclusion of HIV tests in the new E-2 visa requirements was no doubt seen as a victory.

Anti-English Spectrum's campaign against the phantom menace of foreign English teachers with AIDS, carried forward on the internet, in the media, in petitions to government agencies, and finally at the meeting which decided the new E-2 visa policy, had succeeded, and the fruits of its members' efforts would become clear when the government announced the policy days later.

Police, SBS and KBS highlight instructor's 'AIDS threat' while KBS interviews AES

The Rise and Fall of E-2-visa HIV testing in South Korea, 1988 - 2017

Part 1: The 1988 Olympics and Korean fears of AIDS
Part 2: HIV testing for foreigners in the aftermath of the 1988 Olympics (unfinished)
Part 3: Anti-English Spectrum begins to link foreign English teachers to AIDS

Part 4: "Tracking [down] blacklisted foreign teachers suspected of having AIDS"

Part 5: Using their own articles, Anti English Spectrum petitions for E-2 visa changes

Part 6: The Chosun Ilbo: "White English instructor threatens Korean woman with AIDS"

Part 7: News reports on arrest of instructor link him to 'AIDS threat'

Part 8: Police, SBS and KBS highlight instructor's 'AIDS threat' while KBS interviews AES

Throughout the day on July 2, 2007, news broadcasts had reported about arrests of foreign teachers, including 'A,' who had been placed on a blacklist; some print or online media mentioned that he had also 'threatened his ex-girlfriend with AIDS' (see parts 6 and 7), but SBS decided that A and his 'AIDS threat' should be a part of their report during the evening news, and even threw in a bitterly sarcastic title to boot:

Faked backgrounds, molestation... 'Wonderful native speaking instructors'

'Wonderful instructors'

Native speaking English instructors taking advantage of the English education fever are breathtaking as they take over. Cases of faked university diplomas are commonplace, and students have also been molested.

Kim Hyeon-u reports:

In April 2001 Australian A received a conversation instruction visa and entered Korea.

However his attitude towards teaching was insincere and in November that year he was stripped of his visa because he molested a young student.

[Coworker: "...hit them with paper and not go to class, and would read the palms of female high school students..."]

Though hagwons had gone so far as to put up a blacklist some hagwons overlooked this and because A entered Korea on a tourist visa he was able to continue working as an instructor.

Last year when a Korean girlfriend he had been dating for a year wanted to break up with him he also threatened her that she might have caught AIDS.

'AIDS threat email'

The report continued, saying police also caught three other instructors including S, a Canadian who got a fake university diploma from a broker on the internet. They were unqualified, having only graduated from high school and only having experience working in factories or restaurants, but were still hired by hagwons that didn't check their backgrounds. Though it's easy enough to get an E-2 visa with a university degree, there's no method to check for fake degrees, in part part because due to privacy issues, foreign universities won't release personal information. The report ended with:

Police have arrested and detained three unqualified foreign instructors, including the Australian, A, and have also booked seven hagwon owners who hired them.

KBS also reported about the arrests of teachers numerous times throughout the day, such as in a report titled "Unqualified English teacher arrests":

Other reports included this one (video / text) later in the day, and this one appearing in a nightly news round up the next day. These merely showed arrests, along with images of the arrested Australian. 

A KBS new report on July 4, two days later, however, was all Anti English Spectrum could have hoped for and more. Appearing during "아침뉴스타임" (Morning News Time), it was titled "Native speaking instructors, 'from forging diplomas to molestation'".

 From forging diplomas to molestation' 

Unqualified native speaking instructors who are taking advantage of the English education craze abound. University diplomas and transcripts have been forged, and even it's even gone so far that students have been molested.

Reporter Im Se-heum, not long ago foreign instructors were caught for taking drugs. This problem with the low aspects of native speaking instructors isn't going away, is it?

"Yes, from forging degrees to molesting students or having alcohol problems, there are many unqualified native speaking English instructors.

"However, due to high demand, unqualified instructors are openly teaching students in hagwons. [...] We report on the reality of native speaking English instructors in Korea.

The report told the story of S and how he faked his degree. A police officer then described how one teacher worked in fast food, the other in a factory before coming to Korea and becoming instructors. The hagwon passed the buck to immigration, who gave the teacher the visa, while immigration replied it wasn't easy to confirm foreign degrees.

A gyopo from the US who has taught English for 5 years in Korea described the problems with the English craze, such as some hagwons which change the nationalities of their instructors on their promotional material, in which Russian dancers are disguised as Americans and Pakistanis are disguised as Hispanic Americans. "If you're white, everything is okay. We show parents that (at the hagwon) we are using white instructors." He also explained that due to demand there were many native speaking instructors who were not qualified and whose English skills were poor. He added, "There are instructors who do not even know the passive form, who tell very sexual jokes to children, who without hesitation tell stories denigrating Korea." The report continued:

What's worse is that native speaking instructors have even molested students.

At the end of last year, 31 year-old Australian A was told by his girlfriend that she was breaking up with him and wouldn't meet him, and after that she got continuous threats via cell phone message and email. A's ex-girlfriend was unable to endure this and contacted police, and is still afraid of A.

"AIDS threat email"

A's Ex-girlfriend: "Frankly, he frightened me. I was frightened of what [his revenge] would come to. I didn't want it to go any further."

The police investigation found that A had already had been fired from a hagwon for a molestation level of physical contact with students, for which his name had already been posted on the blacklist of the 'Korean native speaking instructor recruiting association.'

At a different hagwon which he worked at until recently, a similar incident occurred, but A claimed it was due to cultural differences.

Australian native speaking instructor: "I touched them like an Australian teacher would, pat them on the shoulder, "Good job," or, you know, "See you later." Of course I'm not guilty, I touch them on shoulder, it's totally wrong [to say I molested them]. The problem is, Hoju munhwa, Daehanminguk munwha is not same."

A was also able to find any job he liked on a tourist visa. One hagwon urgently needed an instructor and prepared everything else up to housing, but of course confirming visa and ID was to be done later.

Hagwon official: I got a room for A. A long-time teacher suddenly didn't show up and since it was urgent, classes were the first priority, and within 3 or 4 days he was to apply for an E-2 visa but didn't.

Since there is a lack of native speaking instructors, hagwons are in no position to quibble over this and that. Moreover, parents prefer certain races or nationalities more than ability in instructors.

Hagwon official: "In order to have pronunciation perfectly like a native speaker, Korean people only want native speakers. They don't want Asians. The mothers themselves..."

With things the way they are, there are arguments that the management of native speaking instructors needs to be strengthened.

Manager of the internet cafe to expel illegal native speaking instructors: "There are English instructors who came to Korea on a tourist visa to work. Things like that are not easy. First, strong legal regulations are needed to punish them, and it's most important that they be made to include a criminal record check and health certificate when they apply for an E-2 visa."

Within the English education craze, due to the prejudice that if you're a native speaker, then your [teaching] ability will unconditionally be good, unqualified native speaking instructors are able to teach with impunity.

More thorough verification is needed for them.

What becomes clear from this report that the example of the "AIDS threat email" that also appeared in the SBS report was actually printed out and displayed by police at a press conference, so they also played a role in promoting the 'AIDS threat' story. But KBS took things a step further by interviewing Lee Eun-ung of AES and amplifying his message that it was "most important that [foreign teachers] be made to include a criminal record check and health certificate when they apply for an E-2 visa", though it's not really clear what that had to do with the those teaching on tourist visas mentioned at the start of that sentence. As always, "unqualified native speaking instructors...able to teach with impunity" are described as a threat, but what made one "unqualified" was never defined. Initially AES targeted those on tourist visas, but, realizing little could be done policy-wise to control what tourists do in their spare time after entering the country, they instead turned their attention to those on E-2 visas, since they could be targeted, and KBS spread their message on the nightly news and stated "More thorough verification is needed for [E-2s]." (This would not be the last time KBS would turn to AES for quotes in anti-foreign teacher hit pieces.)

With some help from the police and major broadcasters like SBS and KBS, AES's linking of foreign teachers, AIDS, and the need to vet them with health checks had become a part of public discourse. All that was needed was some crisis that could be used to justify implementing such checks, and it was not long in coming.