Commemorating Ahn Jung-geun's Death

This got lost among drafts of other posts, but the commemoration of Ahn Jung-geun's death is still worth posting about, I think (especially seeing as I'll be posting about a movie about his life in the near future).

As the Korea Herald told us on the anniversary of his death, March 26, president Lee Myung-bak pledged to find Ahn's remains:

"Today marks the 100th anniversary of Ahn's death. I will do my best as the president (of South Korea). I will seek every means to bring the remains back to South Korea in close cooperation with Japan and China, albeit belated."[...] Ahn was a "patriot who sacrificed himself for the country and its people when they suffered difficulty, and also a pioneer who advocated the peace and conciliation of the world and the East Asian region," the president said.

Above are scenes of him advocating peace and reconciliation from the 2004 film Doma An Jung-geun. The Joongang Ilbo also reported on the commemoration ceremonies:

[I]n Hyochang Park in Yongsan, central Seoul, where the Ahn family shrine is located, a Seoul-based commemorative association held a separate memorial service to pay respects to the freedom fighter.

Ten high schools in Seoul, including Paiwha Girls’ High School, organized events to honor Ahn, such as hand printing, reading his writings and writing letters in his memory.

At Cheonggye Plaza in Seoul was an exhibition of 25 photos depicting Ahn’s history, including pictures of the gun and bullets Ahn used to assassinate the first resident-general of Korea, Hirobumi Ito. [Emphasis added]

Well, as long as they're only advocating "peace and conciliation" and not commemorating assassination, all's well. There was also

a memorial ceremony for Ahn at Luishun prison in the port city of Dalian, northeast China, where he was executed. It was the first ceremony to be held by Korean visitors with the authorization of the Chinese government.

The Grand National Party placed a large portrait of Ahn and placard saying “I am the son of the Republic of Korea” in Korean outside the party’s headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul.

Democratic Party Chairman Chung Sye-kyun said during the party’s Supreme Council meeting that Ahn’s passion for independence must be respected and honored.

I like the fact both parties are trying to outdo each other in being politically correct. Can you imagine some politician ever questioning the deification of Ahn? Speaking of deities, this article was interesting:

Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk, South Korea's highest-ranking catholic priest, created controversy with his remark that seemingly supported the Catholic church's posture 100 years ago in its ambiguous relationship with Ahn Jung-geun[.]

In his sermon this week, which marks the 100th anniversary of Ahn's patriotic act, Cheong said the church's decision 'to suspend the priesthood of a Western priest for three months for his sympathetic involvement in Ahn's final days before the latter's execution was a "best decision" to protect the priest, Hankyoreh said.

The article may be mistaken in saying that this week is "the 100th anniversary of Ahn's patriotic act," unless dangling from a noose is a 'patriotic act'. At any rate, if not a deity, he has become a general, at least; here we see "documents related to independence fighter Ahn Jung-geun at the “General Ahn Jung-geun Room” at the Army headquarters of Gyeryongdae, South Chungcheong Province[.]"

The Chosun Ilbo and Donga Ilbo also have articles about new documents discovered about his final days, as well as questions about the location of his body. The Korea Herald also has an interview with his granddaughter:

President Lee Myung-bak ordered his government Monday to work with China and Japan on the stalled project. Ahn also requested help from the two governments.

"I'm sure that Japan and China also feel the way we do about the project and that it would put all our hearts and minds to rest if his remains were found," she said.

I doubt very much Japan feels the same way about the project.

The Herald also had an article about attempts to retrieve the sword that killed Empress Myeongseong (which can be seen here (via Korea Beat)):

A committee will be launched today in order to retrieve "Hizendo," the sword used to kill Empress Myeongseong, Korea's last empress, from Japan, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of patriot Ahn Jung-geun's death. [...]

The sword, originally made in the 16th century, had reportedly been used by Katsuaki To, one of the three attackers who killed the Korean empress in 1895. He later donated the sword to the Kushida Shrine [in Fukuoka].

The organizing members of the committee said the sword should be either returned to Korea or destroyed because it symbolizes the tragic development between Korea and Japan.

I can only imagine the response if Japan demanded that a hundreds-of-years-old Korean artifact be given to them or destroyed. I'm sure that final sentence should really help move things along.

Foreigners and Foreign Languages

The French foreign language teacher scandal of 1984

Prelude 1: The 1983 Law "Limiting Aliens' Residence Period" and banning "unqualified" foreigners from working.

Part 1: Le Monde and what came before
Part 2: Korea is "Ali Baba's" Cave
Part 3: Seoul Should not be a Workplace for Parisians
Part 4: In private foreign language classes, there are a lot of ‘fraud teachers’
Part 5: Jibberish
Part 6: 'I Want to Strike it Rich in Seoul Too' - Continuous Job Inquiries by the French
Part 7: Foreigners Enjoy Better Life With Mother Tongues
Part 8: Foreigners and Foreign Languages
Part 9: Sickening Face
Part 10: Barking Up the Wrong Tree
Part 11: The First Sanctions on Foreigners Working Illegally
Part 12: All Private Lessons by Foreigners Prohibited
Part 13: Institutes Asked to Hire Eligible Foreign Teachers
Part 14: "Seoul Wind"
Part 15: Foreign Language Teacher Shortage
Part 16: Troublemaking vagabond foreigner story finally airs

Part 8: Foreigners and Foreign Languages


On August 24, 1984, after first bringing the scandal of French foreign teachers living the easy life as language teachers to the public's attention, expanding it into a look at 'fraud' teachers, and painting a picture of a Korea about to be deluged by unqualified young French men, the Joongang Ilbo decided to look at the problems such unqualified teachers cause for English education in Korea, and for the first time linked the issue to pending laws and ordinances regarding private institutes and private lesson teaching.

Many thanks to Kim So-eun for transcribing the Hanja.

Foreigners and Foreign Languages

A foreign news article about the red carpet treatment and, of course, good luck that has sometimes come the way of vagabond travelers from abroad because they teach speaking in Korea has directly confirmed that [these people] are perversely leaving foreign countries [to come take advantage of] our foreign language study boom.

The fundamental purpose of foreign language study is to acquire advanced learning and help the overseas expansion of our citizens. Therefore the most important thing is to procure qualified teachers and instructors for these schools and private institutes which serve this purpose.

Based on pending laws and enforcement ordinances regarding private institutes, to qualify to be a private institute instructor one will have to be at least a junior college graduate or its equivalent. However, regarding foreigners this method of verifying academic background is vague and this enforcement ordinance is not particularly effective.

Especially, regarding cases of foreigners who have recently come to Korea to ride our country’s foreign language boom and work as teachers, there are naturally many doubts as to how suitable these people are, about their standard of refinement and of course their language education skill.

These vagabond foreigners live without doing anything in particular in their home countries and only need to raise just enough money for a plane ticket. They first enter the country and then through foreign language lessons they make the money needed for room, board, and traveling. A Le Monde article eloquently revealed the facts of how some Parisians regard as Korea as a gold mine.

The true educational effect of foreign language learning is that when learning to speak and write a foreign country’s language, to some degree one learns its culture and ‘spirit’ as well. Attaching importance to conversation, [learners] can’t distinguish a teacher’s or instructor’s standard of refinement and mistake them for nothing but a 'tape recorder.' Ultimately there’s a worry that when learning conversation students will imitate that country’s vulgar culture, vulgar living language, and vulgar values. Educational methods are also a problem.

In addition, in language learning, continuous dialogue, repetition, and correction is required, and the applicable traditional grammar of the language should be also be received from the teacher. Of course, one can’t believe that foreign travelers have completely mastered these teaching methods. There is also a concern that these days incorrect foreign speaking is being learned.

There’s a risk when private institutes, corporations and some households [consider] any foreigner with different-colored skin or eyes to be good, and we are seeing that this reckless learning fever is actually having a negative effect on foreign language education.

Also, for this reason it could come to pass that our citizens' image of their level of culture will fall and will offset the effectiveness of gaining foreign language learning.

The first thing the authorities need to do is strengthen the requirements for private institute instructor qualifications. In March, a number of foreign language institutes which had hired unqualified instructors were closed by administrative measures. If needed, the law should be amended to end the hiring of instructors who don't meet a set level of knowledge/refinement and who haven't mastered teaching methods.

In addition, to be of help to those citizens who aspire to learning a foreign language by studying accurate foreign speaking and writing under a qualified teacher, we should bear in mind that learning foreign languages from vagabond foreigners is actually inefficient and not even effective.

You might notice some familiar themes in that piece, such as "These vagabond foreigners live without doing anything in particular in their home countries," "there are naturally many doubts about how suitable these people are," the belief that "any foreigner with different-colored skin or eyes is good," "conversation students will imitate that country’s vulgar culture, vulgar living language, and vulgar values," and of course, "regarding foreigners this method of verifying academic background is vague" and "authorities need to do is strengthen the requirements for private institute instructor qualifications."

These themes have in fact reappeared in articles from the past two weeks, such as this, this, this, and this. While much has changed in Korea over the last twenty-six years, it's apparent some things haven't.

Will Choi Young-hee's bills be passed?

On March 25 Financial News published this article by Choi Gyeong-hwan:

[A bill to] Insert a mandatory drug test for foreign teachers into the ‘Child Education Law’ has been dormant for ten months

During [the reaction to] the case of an American gang member working as a native speaking teacher who was arrested for drug crimes, it became known that a bill which would require foreign teachers to take drug tests has been sitting dormant in the National Assembly for almost ten months.

The Democratic Party Representative Choi Young-hee, member of the National Assembly Committee for Health, Welfare and Family, revealed on March 25 that “Had the ‘Child Education Law Revised Bill’ which I sponsored on June 9 last year been passed, the employment of problem native speaker teachers could have been prevented.” Rep. Choi’s bill to revise the child education law would require foreign teachers wanting to work at kindergartens, elementary or secondary schools, or hagwons to submit a Korean criminal record check and within one month of arrival, health check results including drug and marijuana tests.

However, this bill has been moored in the National Assembly and has made no progress for almost ten months. At present, drug crimes and sex crimes against children by native speaking teachers in Korea are on the increase. In a situation where there are no rules for verification, cases where English teachers who are not charged by police find a new job at a different school or hagwon [can occur].

Rep. Choi said, “Recently, demand for foreign teachers has been rapidly increasing due to things like English immersion policy, but verification and administrative measures to deal with them are non-existent.” “These bills should be passed at an extraordinary session of the National Assembly in April in order to provide a more secure learning environment for children and teens.”

It's worth noting that this bill was also mentioned at the end of this recent article:

Presently a revised bill proposing changes to the Kindergarten Education Law, Elementary and Secondary Education Law, and the Hagwon Education Law which requires native English teachers wanting to work in Korea to provide criminal records, a medical examination including drug screening, and academic background certificates has been submitted in the National Assembly, but the standing committee deliberations have not even been set up.

In order that we can believe in and entrust our children [to hagwons?] the National Assembly should promptly discuss this revision of related laws.

The revised bills referred to at the end of the article are of course Choi Young-hee's bills which were introduced in the national assembly on June 9 of last year, and are translated here.

I like the neutral way in which the article is introduced: "[I]t became known that [this] bill ... has been sitting dormant in the National Assembly for almost ten months." Not "The person sponsoring the bill has jumped on this recent case to draw attention to it." The article mentions that

At present, drug crimes and sex crimes against children by native speaking teachers in Korea are on the increase. In a situation where there are no rules for verification, cases where English teachers who are not charged by police find a new job at a different school or hagwon [can occur].

If you look at the bills themselves, you'll see that the statements above are essentially taken from the bills' purpose statements. What I don't understand is how a criminal record check for crimes committed in Korea will turn up anything if the teachers "are not charged by police" in the first place. As for those statement that "drug crimes and sex crimes against children by native speaking teachers in Korea are on the increase," the bill itself says only that "the crime rate among native English teachers is getting higher"; nothing specific about drug or sex crimes is mentioned. It may be worth mentioning that Rep. Lee Gun-hyeon's statistics regarding crimes by foreign teachers actually shows the crime rate to be dropping, but niggling things like 'facts' have little place in this discussion.

Rep. Choi said, “Recently, demand for foreign teachers has been rapidly increasing due to things like English immersion policy, but verification and administrative measures to deal with them are non-existent.” [Emphasis added]

Odd. I do tend to remember the criminal record checks, notarized copies of said checks and diploma stamped by the embassy in my home country and sealed transcripts existing, and I know the health check occurred since I took photos of it:


There have been other suggestions as to how verification and administration of foreign teachers might be carried (see suggestion 4 here), but Rep. Choi's bills have nothing new to offer; in the end, the bills are practically calling for the status quo with a marijuana test and Korean criminal test added (though no AIDS tests). Nothing earth-shatteringly different there. It might be worth remembering what Benjamin Wagner wrote about his inquiries with Rep. Choi's office:

I pressed for stats for the statements "At the same time, however, the crime rate among native English teachers is getting higher,” and "Furthermore, there are native English speakers who have committed crimes in Korea and expelled from Korea for those crimes, yet these native English speakers are being rehired as English teacher in Korea a few years after their expulsion from the country."

Sadly, they don't have them. The aide mentioned some police reports of crimes they had received in regards to first statement, but just of crimes, not of an increase. For the second quote I was told they'd seen a newspaper story (no I'm not kidding). He didn't remember the title or where they saw it.

While on the one hand, it's nice to see someone actually going about making a group of foreigners submit to drug and AIDS tests in a transparent (and legal) way in the national assembly (as opposed to simply passing around a policy memo), but it's pretty ridiculous that the rationale behind submitting this bill has no facts whatsoever to back up the assertions being made. There's nothing to prove the foreign teacher crime rate is rising, and for the statement that "native English speakers are being rehired as English teacher in Korea a few years after their expulsion from the country," they have nothing to support this other than a vague "I read about it somewhere." And let's not forget how Rep. Choi announced that the Ministry of Justice had 'lost' 22,202 foreign English teachers because she'd used the wrong statistics (and of course never offered a retraction when this was pointed out to her).

This statement is interesting:

“Had the ‘Child Education Law Revised Bill’ which I sponsored on June 9 last year been passed, the employment of problem native speaker teachers could have been prevented.”

The problem is that these most recent cases have involved Korean Americans on F-4 visas (yes, others were arrested, possibly E-2 visa-holders, but they were footnotes in articles about the Korean Americans), but according to statements made by an aide of Rep. Choi's to Benjamin Wagner months ago, these bills will affect only E-2 visa holders - despite the fact that the inclusive term “native English teachers” (원어민교사) and not specifically "E-2 visa holders," is used in the bills. I wrote months ago that "those on other visas might wish the bill to be a little more specific in its language," and I wonder if "native English teachers" will be interpreted in a more broad fashion to include those on other visas after these most recent incidents. I'm not sure what's worse - re-interpreting the language in the bills to including F-4 visa-holders, or not including them and using crimes by F-4s to justify stricter laws against E-2 visa-holders. Both of those options are rather sneaky, if unsurprising.

Of course, we have to remember the reason this is being done:

“These bills should be passed at an extraordinary session of the National Assembly in April in order to provide a more secure learning environment for children and teens.”

We have to protect the children. Now, to be fair, Rep. Choi has criticized Korean teachers as well, and at the same time the three bills were introduced regarding foreign English teachers, she also introduced 5 bills aimed at Korean teachers. For example, in the wake of the Na-yeong incident, while some other national assembly representatives were saying that out of foreigners in general, "native speaking teachers are especially potential child molesters," Rep. Choi was pointing the finger at Korean teachers who had committed sex crimes but who had mostly not been punished for it (in Korean here):

A total of 124 sexual crimes involving elementary and secondary school teachers were reported to the education authorities between 2006 and 2009. Among them, 47 involved prostitution, 43 were sexual harassment and five were rape cases.

However, only eight teachers (6 percent) were given prison sentences, while 31 were not indicted and 28 received suspended sentences.

Interesting that such figures are marshaled to provide a basis for criticizing Korean teachers in nothing more than a press release, but nothing specific is needed when submitting bills in the national assembly calling for expanded monitoring and testing for foreign English teachers.

Commentary on "Sickening Face"

I just posted this at the bottom of yesterday's "Sickening Face" post, but decided to make it a separate post as well.
----

We've seen the portrayal of the 'shiftless vagabond from France who teaches language and lives well in Korea' evolve in the August 21 Donga Ilbo article "Jibberish" and in "Sickening Face." As 'Jibberish' told us, "There was one penniless “French” young man. He was from “Lyon”. There he was a restaurant delivery boy." Note that the Le Monde article makes no mention of Lyon or restaurant delivery boys - these were made up by the Donga Ilbo. That article also mentions that this "French" young man came to Korea with only a "shabby suitcase" and that he "married a respectable Korean woman," which combines the stories of Luc and Pierre as told in Le Monde.

Now, in "Sickening Face," we're told of "A Parisian dishwasher living in Lyon [who] ended up flying to Korea." Lyon appears again, but this time the "French" young man is a dishwasher instead of a restaurant delivery boy. The intent is the same - to portray him as lowly as possible so that he is seen as being unworthy of marriage to a "maiden from a distinguished rich family." It also relies on the "Korea treats these foreigners too well" theme, as well as the "lucky foreign bastard" theme in portraying him as having a leg up because of his "exotic outward charm" and his mother tongue and also describing this marriage as having "made him a rich man overnight" - a theme seen in these well-known anti-English teacher comics (click on the first result). It also mentions that "Other Parisian dishwashers, shoe shiners, and car washers are calling en masse the Korean embassy in France," an obvious reference to this Joongang Ilbo article. The only problem is that the examples given in that article were of people who were all qualified to teach. At any rate, the reader should fear that more nice, rich girls are going to marry the 'French wave" of dishwashers, shoe shiners, and car washers about to wash over the peninsula.

As for how the writer feels about this, one need only look at the way the article moves from the story of the marriage between a foreign dishwasher to an adulterous couple, to "sickening" examples of hermaphrodites, fish species where the males parasitize females, " sexually-reproducing, impudent vertebrates," talk of anuses in strange places and wicked servants. It's interesting, however, that the last example he mentions is of "ask[ing] questions of sheep in wolf’s clothing." Since they are sheep, they aren't as dangerous as they're made out to be, and can be dealt with, something a Joongang Ilbo editorial had called for the day before "Sickening Face" was published, and the next translation to be posted in this series.

'Sickening Face'

The French foreign language teacher scandal of 1984

Prelude 1: The 1983 Law "Limiting Aliens' Residence Period" and banning "unqualified" foreigners from working.

Part 1: Le Monde and what came before
Part 2: Korea is "Ali Baba's" Cave
Part 3: Seoul Should not be a Workplace for Parisians
Part 4: In private foreign language classes, there are a lot of ‘fraud teachers’
Part 5: Jibberish
Part 6: 'I Want to Strike it Rich in Seoul Too' - Continuous Job Inquiries by the French
Part 7: Foreigners Enjoy Better Life With Mother Tongues
Part 8: Foreigners and Foreign Languages
Part 9: Sickening Face
Part 10: Barking Up the Wrong Tree
Part 11: The First Sanctions on Foreigners Working Illegally
Part 12: All Private Lessons by Foreigners Prohibited
Part 13: Institutes Asked to Hire Eligible Foreign Teachers
Part 14: "Seoul Wind"
Part 15: Foreign Language Teacher Shortage
Part 16: Troublemaking vagabond foreigner story finally airs

Part 9: 'Sickening Face'

The name of this August 25, 1984 Kyunghyang Shinmun article, from a column titled 'Our Language', is 뇌꼴스런 얼굴, or "sickening/ detestable/ loathsome face," and suggests how this term can be used. For simplicity I've chosen "Sickening Face." One wonders what its writer, reporter Oh Dong-hwan, was on when he wrote it. Many thanks to Song Joosub, Ben Wagner, and others for the great deal of help that was needed to translate this.

Also, I just noticed now what the picture in the article is of: two people - one of them a big-nosed man - kissing.


Much like the article, it's pretty bizarre.

Sickening Face

A disgusting and sour expression that itches

A Parisian dishwasher living in Lyon ended up flying to Korea. Because he was a French person who spoke French well, he was invited to work as a hagwon instructor.

A maiden from a distinguished rich family enamored with the foreigner’s exotic outward charm married the Parisian dishwasher, and this made him a rich man overnight.

Indeed such a thing was reported in a Le Monde article a few days ago. Other Parisian dishwashers, shoe shiners, and car washers are calling en masse the Korean embassy in France. In the end, Parisians are flocking like a cloud [to Korea].

The face of the maiden from a distinguished rich family, though being a person who does not know to write even a simple letter to her home country, performing the “act of marriage” whispering in French, is a “sickening face.” A few days ago there was a case of adultery. Looking at them, the laughing face of a person who can’t laugh is also a “sickening face.” Only a hermaphrodite could laugh confidently, perhaps.

Take the case of animals. [Only] when looking at how a male Atlantic football fish parasitizes a female, or when asexually-reproducing hermaphroditic species such as earthworms, sea sponges, and snails look at sexually-reproducing, impudent vertebrates is laughing possible.

What about a sea urchin? Because of its chestnut-shaped burs which make it impossible to 'toast' or copulate, the male discharges his spermatozoa in the water and try to dock them with the female’s eggs. A sea urchin would laugh when imagining those adulterous man and woman. But sea urchins have a mouth on the bottom and an anus on top. This makes one convulse with laughter. However, if there were an anus on the back of the head, where its mouth is located, it would be terribly funny.

Consider a starfish. Even though it has an anus, it rarely uses it. It would just laugh while it digests in its mouth food that could pass through its anus. Such laughter is “a sickening face” – like that of the rightly ridiculed man who ridicules in response.

The impudent face of a powerful man’s wicked servant is a “sickening face.” The face of a person skillful in using another's authority is a “sickening face.” A face that asks questions of a sheep in wolf’s clothing is also such a face. To use a popular phrase: “It's hot.”

We've seen the portrayal of the 'shiftless vagabond from France who teaches language and lives well in Korea' evolve in the August 21 Donga Ilbo article "Jibberish" and in "Sickening Face." As 'Jibberish' told us, "There was one penniless “French” young man. He was from “Lyon”. There he was a restaurant delivery boy." Note that the Le Monde article makes no mention of Lyon or restaurant delivery boys - these were made up by the Donga Ilbo. That article also mentions that this "French" young man came to Korea with only a "shabby suitcase" and that he "married a respectable Korean woman," which combines the stories of Luc and Pierre as told in Le Monde.

Now, in "Sickening Face," we're told of "A Parisian dishwasher living in Lyon [who] ended up flying to Korea." Lyon appears again, but this time the "French" young man is a dishwasher instead of a restaurant delivery boy. The intent is the same - to portray him as lowly as possible so that he is seen as being unworthy of marriage to a "maiden from a distinguished rich family." It also relies on the "Korea treats these foreigners too well" theme, as well as the "lucky foreign bastard" theme in portraying him as having a leg up because of his "exotic outward charm" and his mother tongue and also describing this marriage as having "made him a rich man overnight" - a theme seen in these well-known anti-English teacher comics (click on the first result). It also mentions that "Other Parisian dishwashers, shoe shiners, and car washers are calling en masse the Korean embassy in France," an obvious reference to this Joongang Ilbo article. The only problem is that the examples given in that article were of people who were all qualified to teach. At any rate, the reader should fear that more nice, rich girls are going to marry the 'French wave" of dishwashers, shoe shiners, and car washers about to wash over the peninsula.

As for how the writer feels about this, one need only look at the way the article moves from the story of the marriage between a foreign dishwasher to an adulterous couple, to "sickening" examples of hermaphrodites, fish species where the males parasitize females, " sexually-reproducing, impudent vertebrates," talk of anuses in strange places and wicked servants. It's interesting, however, that the last example he mentions is of "ask[ing] questions of sheep in wolf’s clothing." Since they are sheep, they aren't as dangerous as they're made out to be, and can be dealt with, something a Joongang Ilbo editorial had called for the day before "Sickening Face" was published, and the next translation to be posted in this series.

"The country where murderers and drug criminals teach English"

[Update]

I added a few comments at the bottom of this post.

[Original Post]

This editorial appeared in the Daejeon Ilbo on March 25 commenting on the 'never-ending' crimes of foreign English teachers:

The country where murderers and drug criminals teach English

In Korea the illegal and law-evading activities of foreign language teachers are never ending. Some thoughtless teachers get into trouble because of their illegal and law-evading activities and now gang activity and murder have shockingly been uncovered. It’s incredible that such a brutal criminal and drug addict could play such a role and teach English to young students.

A Korean-American teacher who was exposed and arrested a few days ago was wanted by Interpol for murder. In 2006 he killed a Korean American in the U.S. and fled to Korea where he habitually did drugs and taught children. Another Korean American named Lee who worked as a teacher at a famous hagwon in Gangnam was arrested in a similar case. An LA gang member who was deported for attempted murder and came to Korea, he worked as an English teacher and was arrested for smuggling, dealing and taking drugs. In 2008 a teacher on the FBI’s most wanted list for murder was arrested, and thirteen English teachers were arrested for gambling and habitually doing drugs. There are also foreign teachers who get into trouble because of their disorderly private lives or molestation.

It’s not easy to keep problematic 'low quality teachers’ like these out . Under current law, for hagwons that employ foreign teachers the owner must report the teacher’s personal data to the education office within one week. For people from English speaking countries to receive a conversation-teaching visa (E-2), they must submit criminal record and infectious disease certificates and their addresses in Korea. However, for foreign teachers who have come to Korea fake diplomas or documents are difficult to verify. Moreover, there is no system to filter out undeclared instructors and instructors from non-English speaking countries.

At the end of July last year there were 21,498 E-2 visa holders in Korea. If we include those illegal teachers who came to Korea on tourist visas there are 50,000 foreign teachers. At Seoul public schools, among native speaking English teachers 16.2% are licensed teachers, and only 38.8% have TESOL or TEFL certificates. Teachers at private hagwons fall far beyond this level.

In the era of globalization, the need for foreign language education is an undeniable reality. As long as foreign language education is unavoidable the entire system should be improved. We must find a way to raise quality standards and block law-breaking foreigners at the source. At this time, we also wish that we could confidently check the conditions of private foreign language hagwons in Daejeon and Chungcheongnam-do.

So, we're told that "It’s not easy to keep problematic 'low quality teachers’ like these out," which is then followed by unrelated information about registration of teachers and the E-2 system (incorrectly - infectious disease certificates and their addresses in Korea must be submitted to get an alien registration card, not the visa) and talk of fake diplomas and ‘undeclared instructors and instructors from non-English speaking countries" who cannot be "filtered out" (forgetting that there are over 1,000 non-English teaching E-2 visa holders). There is nothing about F-4 visas, however which is the visa those caught in these most recent cases were on. As always, Korean Americans are treated according to the "Korean American + 'good' or 'successful' = Korean, Korean American + 'bad' or 'criminal' = American/foreign" equation. The editorial betrays a total lack of knowledge about these visa issues, and seems like it was just a chance for the writer to crusade against the long-standing 'foreign English teacher problem' and their 'never-ending' crimes in order to 'protect children.'

We're also told that there are '50,000 foreign teachers' if illegal teachers on tourist visas are included (are there even that many of such illegal teachers these days?), which is 30,000 above the number of E-2 visa holders. It's quite an exaggeration, and one meant to frighten (golly, are there really so many possible 'brutal criminals and drug addicts' out there?).

Then we're told that, "At Seoul public schools, among native speaking English teachers 16.2% are licensed teachers, and only 38.8% have TESOL or TEFL certificates." While it sounds similar to comments in this article attributed to Song Kwang-yong, the president of Seoul National University of Education ("Currently, only 20.5 percent of native English speaking teachers (at schools) have teaching licenses (according to data from the Education Ministry, November 2008)"), what's interesting is that neither a Google or Naver search turned up any other article referring to those stats except this one.

The article lists examples of "never-ending" crimes by foreign English teachers ('끊이지 않고 있다' is not an uncommon way to describe them - see here). Not to excuse the crimes that are committed, but something that should be pointed out is that few groups could be scrutinized in the way foreign English teachers are by the Korean media and come away looking good.

'Jibberish'

The French foreign language teacher scandal of 1984

Prelude 1: The 1983 Law "Limiting Aliens' Residence Period" and banning "unqualified" foreigners from working.

Part 1: Le Monde and what came before
Part 2: Korea is "Ali Baba's" Cave
Part 3: Seoul Should not be a Workplace for Parisians
Part 4: In private foreign language classes, there are a lot of ‘fraud teachers’
Part 5: Jibberish
Part 6: 'I Want to Strike it Rich in Seoul Too' - Continuous Job Inquiries by the French
Part 7: Foreigners Enjoy Better Life With Mother Tongues
Part 8: Foreigners and Foreign Languages
Part 9: Sickening Face
Part 10: Barking Up the Wrong Tree
Part 11: The First Sanctions on Foreigners Working Illegally
Part 12: All Private Lessons by Foreigners Prohibited
Part 13: Institutes Asked to Hire Eligible Foreign Teachers
Part 14: "Seoul Wind"
Part 15: Foreign Language Teacher Shortage
Part 16: Troublemaking vagabond foreigner story finally airs

Part 5: "Jibberish"


On August 21, 1984, an irregular column in the Donga Ilbo titled 횡설수설 ("Jibberish," or "nonsense") provided its own commentary on the subject of unqualified foreign language teachers. Many thanks to Ben Wagner and Kim So-eun for help with the translation:

'Jibberish'

There is a phrase "Beautiful/American conversation". Of course, it means the direct English conversation taught by Americans, but to hear it in passing it gives off the idea that the person who teaches such conversation lectures is nothing but a “beautiful woman.” At any rate, this “Beautiful/American conversation” symbolizes our country’s foreign language institute fever as there are about 70 official institutes and around 500 private foreign language institutes in Seoul alone. Among these there are not enough [qualified] teachers and a fair share of hagwons have latched onto any Tom Dick or Harry [to hire as teachers].

There was one penniless “French” young man. He was from “Lyon”. There he was a restaurant delivery boy. Carrying only one shabby suitcase, he came to Seoul, and only because he spoke “French” well he became a French teacher. And with the money he earned his station rose and he married a respectable Korean woman and his good life attracted the attention of a newspaper article. Indeed, last week the newspaper "Le Monde" introduced such "success stories."

There is the story of a young man who traveled without money and in Seoul managed even an apartment using his tongue/voice, and the story of another young man who complained about his lack of hours earning money doing things like recording advertisements in French for a large company, and finally there is the story of marrying a maiden from a good family. Also, last June, a young American man caught in Jongno on "document forgery and accompanying charges” confessed he had arrangements with Korean women and female college students who provided him with food and a place to stay, and for one year he lived without a job, eating and living for free.

At the end of his confession, he said “There are hundreds of foreigners like me, and Koreans are exceptionally friendly to foreigners, especially white ones.” As a joke, he said, "If you go to the United States, even beggars speak English well,” but if the power of foreign language extends this far, it would be difficult to stop people from reflecting bitterly on this [worship of foreign languages] as a great sickness. It’s difficult to tell whether the foreign language boom is a bad thing in itself, or whether [the choice of] a marriage [partner], as a personal matter, can be judged as right or wrong, or whether being [overly] kind to foreigners is something to be criticized. Before any of this can be considered, however, one must stand up and have some self respect.

And yes, there is a Donga Ilbo article from June 1984 about the "young American man caught in Jongno." That will have to wait for another day...

"It Doesn’t Matter Even if English Teachers are Criminals?"

On April 1, the Hanguk Gyeongje published this piece by reporter Cho Yun-kyung:

It Doesn’t Matter Even if English Teachers or Native Speakers are Criminals?

On March 17 in Incheon an ethnic Korean English Teacher was arrested for receiving marijuana cookies through International Express Mail. On the 24th an ethnic Korean English Teacher was arrested on charges of ‘making’ and selling marijuana.

According to a 2009 National Police Agency report on ‘The present state of crime by foreign English teachers,’ 274 crimes had been committed by foreign English teachers in the last three years. These crimes included theft, drugs, violence, rape, etc.

Included among these was a formal university teacher who appeared in re-enactments on many local networks.

There are more than 7,500 native English teachers placed in elementary, middle and high schools nationwide. According to estimates by the The Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology, there are 30,000 native speaking teachers working in hagwons or universities nationwide. However, due to the pressing need and rush for such teachers, a good many of them are unqualified.

In fact, there was a case of an American wanted for murder who was teaching elementary school students. It appears that for criminals from countries were English is their mother tongue, Korea, in the midst of a craze for English education, is used as a hiding place to avoid capture.

Native-speaking assistant teachers who work in schools need only to have graduated from a four year university, and because they didn’t complete a course in teacher training it isn’t verified whether they are low quality teachers or not.

In one instance a native speaking assistant teacher, using a bank note, showed his students the way to smoke marijuana [to roll a joint?] during class.

Cases of foreigners working as English teachers after entering Korea on a tourist visa are punished according to the case’s importance and at the discretion of the Ministry of Justice. Cases that are punished are very rare to the point that [only] those with bad luck get reported.

According to existing law, it is illegal for foreigners working at a fixed place to increase their income by working elsewhere. Students do not know this fact and think it natural to receive private lessons from foreigners. Police revealed that “In many examples of illegal tutoring, the students involved understand this but will not personally report on them and cannot turn them in.”

Many people have a prejudice that they can only learn English in the class of a “blond-haired, blue-eyed” native speaker. Generally, because there is higher demand for white teachers, they are paid more than ethnic Korean or black teachers. Because of this, cases have occurred where white people from Russia, Eastern Europe and other non-English speaking places have lied and pretended to be native English speakers in Korea. The reality is that this is not a desirable basis by which to choose English teachers.

Unqualified native speakers are working in Korea as teachers and our society is paying [the price] for employing unverified native speakers to satisfy the demand for English classes. Indeed, can we ever realize our expectations for high quality English education with these native speakers haphazardly brought to Korea with no regard for their major or skill?

To solve the problem, each step of employment visa issuance should be thoroughly verified. The verification process should not be loose like before. Always concentrating on national security and caution like the U.S., a stringent entry system with several steps, including a visa interview [should be] prepared. We should also, though a thorough verification beforehand, prevent Korea becoming a “funny country where if you only speak English everyone will give you money.”

Also, if there are cases of private hagwons hiring illegal native speakers, strong measures should be considered to halt their operations immediately.

Presently a revised bill proposing changes to the Kindergarten Education Law, Elementary and Secondary Education Law, and the Hagwon Education Law which requires native English teachers wanting to work in Korea to provide criminal records, a medical examination including drug screening, and academic background certificates has been submitted in the National Assembly, but the standing committee deliberations have not even been set up.

In order that we can believe in and entrust our children [to hagwons?] the National Assembly should promptly discuss this revision of related laws.

Let's look more closely at a few things:

The title: "It Doesn’t Matter Even if English Teachers or Native Speakers are Criminals?" The knee-jerk reaction is to think, "clearly this 'journalist' doesn't bother to read the news." There were over 300 negative articles about foreign English teachers last year, and about 1,000 since 2004. Every time a teacher gets arrested for smoking pot, there are 10-20 articles about it, and regarding these most recent cases, over 50 articles have appeared. As if crime by foreign teachers "doesn't matter." Of course, when you reach the end of the article, you see that this rhetorical question is meant to prod the national assembly into action.

Continuing,

According to a 2009 National Police Agency report on ‘The present state of crime by foreign English teachers,’ 274 crimes had been committed by foreign English teachers in the last three years.

Wrong. There was no National Police Agency report - it was statistics released by National Assembly Representative Lee Gun-hyeon. How difficult is it to get something that simple correct? (Apparently Rep. Lee contacted the Canadian embassy - and perhaps others - while researching the report telling them that he knew foreign crime and crime by English teachers was a big problem and wanted their help. They didn't respond.) Needless to say, the statistics in Rep. Lee's report are not put into context, but that would involve doing more than a Naver search, which is clearly not part of the job description. As I noted here,

The statistics reveal that 114 teachers were arrested in 2007 and 99 were arrested in 2008. So, for 2007, 114 out of 17,721 teachers were arrested - a rate of 0.64%. In 2008, 99 out of 19,771 teachers were arrested - a rate of 0.50%. As noted in Benjamin Wagner's report to the NHRCK, "The Korean Institute of Criminology... reported that in 2007 the overall “crime rate among [all] foreigners [in Korea] was 1.4% compared with the 3.5% rate among Korean citizens.” In other words, according to Lee's own figures, the foreign English teacher crime rate (0.64%) was more than five times less than the crime rate among Koreans (3.5%) in 2007 and half the rate of other foreigners.

At any rate, as the article above notes,

There are more than 7,500 native English teachers placed in elementary, middle and high schools nationwide. According to estimates by the The Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology, there are 30,000 native speaking teachers working in hagwons or universities nationwide.

I'd never come across that '30,000' figure before, which would mean that there are a total of 37,500 native speakers working in Korean hagwons, public schools, and universities out of this potential pool [2008 statistics]:

E-1 - 705 professors from English speaking countries
E-2 - 19,771 in total - 18,604 from English speaking countries
F21 - 3,060 spouses from English speaking countries
F-4 - 37,286 ethnic Koreans from English speaking countries
F-5 - 220 permanent residents from English speaking countries
There are an unknown number on tourist visas who teach English.

Of course, it seems odd, then, that "there are 50,666 F-4 visa holders [but] the government does not know how many are involved in English teaching." Of course, that's from a Korea Times article, so take that how you will. I thought I'd do a search to see if I could find out more about this estimate by The Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology, and used terms in Korean from the original article:

전국 초 · 중 · 고교에 배치된 원어민 영어교사는 7500여명이다. 대학이나 학원에서 일하는 원어민까지 합하면 국내 원어민 강사는 약 3만명에 이를 것으로 교육과학기술부는 추정하고 있다.

Oddly enough, this August 12, 2009 Money Today article seems to say the same thing:

지난 4월 기준 전국 초·중·고교에 배치된 원어민 영어교사는 모두 7088명. 대학이나 학원에서 일하는 원어민까지 합하면 국내 영어교육 원어민은 약 3만명에 이를 것으로 교육과학기술부는 추정하고 있다.

Actually, it says exactly the same thing. I wasn't joking about only using Naver to write the damn article. Control C, Control V. As for this,

Included among these was a formal university teacher who appeared in re-enactments on many local networks.

I'd never heard that before, but it turns out such a person was arrested last November, according to this Yonhap article (which is pretty much another cut and paste job). Also interesting is this:

In one instance a native speaking assistant teacher, using a bank note, showed his students the way to smoke marijuana [to roll a joint?] during class.

I was pretty certain when I read that I knew who the source would be, and yes - it's from a Breaknews article which features a (blurred) photo of Anti-English Spectrum manager 'L'. You know you're dealing with a credible reporter when they quote from Breaknews.

Also recommended in the article is that "To solve the problem, each step of employment visa issuance should be thoroughly verified." So let's see. An Apostille doesn't work for Canada, so for the process of getting my last visa I needed a criminal record check, two notarized copies of said check and two notarized copies of my diploma, and all of those notarized copies had to be stamped by the Korean embassy, three copies of transcripts, and drug and AIDS tests. Except that I decided to do a visa run to Japan after arriving in Korea and when I got to the Korean embassy in Fukuoka, they looked confused when I passed them all this paperwork and told me that - in Japan - all that was needed was the confirmation number, application, passport and the fee. But I digress. One wonders how more thoroughly verified it can get, but I don't doubt for a moment that it can't go further. It's worth remembering that what is important is not solving a problem, but the appearance that one is solving a problem. I imagine many of the players (AES, politicians, journalists with an axe to grind, or who need something to crusade against) do not want the 'problem' to be solved. Where would the fun be in that?

At any rate, some of the criticisms noted in the article - for example, that choosing teachers based on skin colour is not logical - and suggestions are worth noting, such as this:

Also, if there are cases of private hagwons hiring illegal native speakers, strong measures should be considered to halt their operations immediately.

Absolutely. However, you can be sure the Hagwon Owner's Association will make certain that never happens, so it's much easier to go after a group of foreigners that is essentially powerless.

The revised bills referred to at the end of the article are of course Choi Young-hee's bills which are translated here. I'll look more closely at those bills after I translate this article, which focuses on the bills and Choi Young-hee's recent comments about them. Anyone who thinks that she might take advantage the recent arrests to embiggen herself and push for the bills to be passed will not be disappointed.

Olympic Park bridge collapse

As this Joongang Ilbo page notes, 12:20pm on Sunday the Blue Dragon Bridge in Olympic Park suddenly collapsed. Luckily, only one person, 52 year-old Mr. Jeong, was hurt, and he suffered only minor injuries.

No new H-2 visa holders to enter the country this year

Last week an article about the former Korean American gangsters who were teaching English in Korea mentioned that "ethnic Koreans, who can gain a residential F-4 visa, are exempted from the screening procedures" which are required of E-2 visa-holders, and an official from the immigration office correctly noted that, "F-4 visa holders are allowed to do all kinds of jobs as it is a residential card, so hagwon supervisors have to weed out unqualified English teachers among the visa holders." The article also gave us these statistics:

Currently, there are 50,666 F-4 visa holders and 22,018 E-2 visa holders as of December 2009, according to KIS. Among those with F-4 visas, the government does not know how many are involved in English teaching.

Considering the uproar over the three recent cases involving Korean-Americans (46 articles related to these cases at Naver (though some are due to multiple broadcasts by YTN and other networks)), you'd be forgiven for wondering if the title of this article referred to Korean Americans: "Seoul Slams Doors Shut for Ethnic Korean Workers."

It's worth noting however that only one reference to the relation between the F-4 visa and the ability of ethnic Koreans to work as English teachers without background checks has turned up:

[학원관계자 : 외국인 강사면 확인을 하는데 교포들은 F4 비자(재외동포비자)만 있으면 되니까 검증을 안 해도 대학은 나왔겠거니 하고 넘어가는 수가 있죠.]

Otherwise, no other references to the differences between E-2 and F-4 visa-holders has turned up in the media.

As the aforementioned article about 'slamming the door shut on ethnic Korean workers' reveals,

A committee of labor officials attached to the ministry decided Wednesday to open the quota of E-9 foreign workers to 24,000, up 7,000 from the last year's 17,000.

About 19,000 are allocated for the manufacturing industry; 2,000 in the cattle-farming and agricultural fields; and the rest in construction and others.

But the number of H-2 visas will fall to zero from 17,000.

"The decision follows the domestic employment market's demands. Permitting workers from overseas was originally intended as a substitute for domestic workers. With the unemployment rate hitting its highest rate ever, it is time to secure more positions for domestic workers," a key official inside the ministry said.

He said many employers made more requests to the government for E-9 workers over H-2 workers. "Foreign workers have limited choices - they are allowed to switch their workplace no more than three times during the three year-visa validity. But H-2 holding ethnic Koreans have more liberty in choosing their employers," he said.

According to a separate report by the ministry, most E-9 workers are engaged in the manufacturing and agricultural fields, which are not favored by Koreans. H-2 workers mostly work at construction sites or in the services sectors such as restaurants that are considered relatively prestigious.

According to 2008 statistics, (compared to 50,666 F-4 visa holders for 2009), there were 299,332 H-2 visa holders from the following countries: Korean Chinese, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Korean-Russian, Russia:, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova.
The visa was started in 2007; more information can be found here and here.

There were 190,776 E-9 visa-holders at the end of 2008. As noted above, 17,000 were allowed to come last year, compared to 24,000 this year, but it also notes that "More than 55,000 people applied for the E-9 visa in the first quarter of last year" showing the demand for the visa.

As noted here, Filipina English teachers have complained about their treatment in comparison to white foreigners; one wonders how H-2 visa holders feel about F-4 visa holders, as there will likely be no move to cut off applications for F-4 visas any time soon.

Another journalistic classic

Ilyo Seoul, or the Daily Sun, a political tabloid paper (see its covers here), has picked up the story of the Korean American gangsters/murderer/drug dealer who became English teachers, which I looked at here, here and here. Apparently, the pressures of only writing about 'things that have actually happened' and using 'facts' was too much of a challenge for reporter Yun Ji-hwan, so he just decided to fabricate in its entirety the final section of the article below.

The Seriousness of Foreign Teachers’ Ugly Double Lives Cannot Be Measured
They have no taboos against money, sex, or drugs

Recently a Korean American who had taken part in gang activities and committed murder in the U.S. and who openly worked as a teacher in Korea was exposed. This incident has shown how lax the management of foreign teachers is. Problems concerning foreign teachers are nothing new. The teachers’ excesses and disordered private lives are a problem, but another problem is that hagwons do not carry out proper verification when hiring native teachers. Calls are becoming more urgent for laws to regulate hagwons in Korea that allow foreign lawbreakers to disguise themselves as native speaking teachers. As well, foreign teachers are of course distributing drugs which are being abused. For this reason areas around universities where young people gather have been a paradise for drugs for some time.

The number of foreign teachers buying, selling, and of course producing drugs is increasing. An American working as a teacher at an English hagwon who grew, processed, sold and smoked marijuana for several months was caught by police.

[From there it reports on the familiar story of the ex-gangsters and pot growers, and then continues.]

Unkempt activities every night

Foreign teachers' disordered private lives have highlighted numerous social problems. Not only drugs, but also incidents of sexual violence by foreign teachers are increasing yearly. Especially, incidents involving foreign teachers taking pictures of lewd acts with Korean women and putting them on the internet are common. If we examine recent incidents related to foreigners, there numerous cases where drugs and sexual assault are connected. After taking drugs rape occurs in a drugged state.

There are surprisingly many women who have associated with foreigners and become mired in drugs, police explained. According to an official of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, in recent years drugs and marijuana have persistently increased at the hands of foreign teachers who have come to Korea.

A police official said, "There are many women who come into contact with marijuana or other drugs in clubs or foreign teachers’ houses and become addicts,” and “Because they’re young and curious they think that if they just try it once or twice they’ll be okay and then become caught up in drugs.

For most, drug-taking is followed by sex. Many drug cases occur because men and women gather together. Police have seen a considerable number of women who suffered an unexpected rape when they were high. It’s known however that most of the women who suffer rape in this way do not report it to the police, because they fear that the fact they took drugs might be discovered.

A police official said “Among foreign teachers there have been reported cases of them having sex with an unbelievable number of Korean women.” “One teacher showed symptoms of drug addiction, and I was speechless when he told me he slept with 200 women and did marijuana or other drugs with most of them,” he sighed.

Drug addiction leaves one in a state where normal behavior is not possible, and regarding hagwons which allow such lectures, strong measures against the thoughtless recruiting of foreign teachers are urgently required.

Reporter Yun tells a chilling story of debauchery and ruined lives. The only problem is that I haven't come across any newspaper reports of sexual assault against Korean women by foreign English teachers (there are a small number of molestation charges involving students), and certainly none involving sexual assault and drugs. The English Spectrum incident and another case involving a blogger who posted photos of adult students and nude 'models' are likely the basis of the claim that posting lewd photos of Korean women on the internet is 'common.' There are some pretty bold claims made in that article, but not a single case or statistic is cited to back anything he wrote up. Perhaps he simply saw things like this on TV, or read this equally dubious quote from 2007:

A source at the foreign affairs division of the Seoul Police Department said, "American and Canadian English teachers think Korea is a 'land of opportunity.'" They become hagwon teachers not only because there is no country which has much desire to learn English as Korea but because they believe they can make up to 1,000,000 won per month through illegal private lessons. The source also said, "the majority of them find it easy to seduce Korean women and do drugs with them." Foreign English teachers see Korea not only as a 'land of opportunity' but also as a 'perverted heaven'.

At least tabloids like Breaknews would base a [totally exaggerated] story on at least one or two facts. Instead of writing about the 'disordered private lives' of foreign English teachers, a good source of material would more likely be the 'disordered writing habits' of Korean journalists and editors. Reporter Yun can be reached here: jjh@dailysun.co.kr

On that topic, I was told that after reading an article about foreign bloggers, an editor from one of the English language dailies (I'm sure you can figure out which one) told someone involved with the article, "You know that many of these foreigners who come to our country are uneducated," in reference to the bloggers.

Oh, and I found another Korean American gangster/teacher cartoon from 2008:

"Wanted" "Teacher"

We can now complete the collection:

English instructor (2006)

(2010)

The article translated above used the word 둔갑, which as a verb (둔갑하다) means to transform into or take the shape of (as in "외국인 범법자를 원어민 강사로 둔갑시키는 국내 학원," or "hagwons that let foreign criminals transform into native speakers") and it's interesting that one of the first examples given by Naver's online dictionary is "사람으로 둔 갑한 여우," or "a fox in the shape of man," which likely explains the photo above; further discussion of the meaning of the photo can be found here.

Article on Filipina English teachers

Korea Beat translated this article (original here) about Filipina English teachers in Korea and the discrimination they face (articles about such teachers have appeared before). Some tidbits:

Because of past problems in English education these teachers were given an opportunity[...] People in our country, they said, seem to prefer white people and discriminate against south Asians.

Hagwon instructors are mainly Americans, Australians, and Canadians, but some of them are unqualified, they said.[...]

We should reflect on our tendency to ignore certain countries and think too highly of others.

One wonders what 'past problems in English education' they're referring to, and it's nice to see 'unqualified' bandied about... again. It's interesting that, as far as lived experience goes, people in Korea "seem to prefer white people and discriminate against south Asians," but in the media that trend is actually quite the opposite.