A closer look at Friday's hagwon instructor pot bust

On February 17, the Korea Herald reported the following:

Police said Friday they have arrested and detained five people, including a Korean man with Canadian nationality, suspected of dealing marijuana in two separate drug rings.

Police also booked 31 others, including a 36-year-old college professor from the U.S., for investigation without physical detention for allegedly purchasing the drug from the arrested suspects, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said.

The Canadian national, a underground hip-hop singer working as a native teacher of English, identified only by the initial of his name H, allegedly sold marijuana to fellow English teachers from the U.S. and Canada as well as to an employee of a local industrial conglomerate, the police said.

The suspects are believed to have distributed about 438 grams of Canadian and locally-grown hemp in well-known private English education institutions in Seoul and nearby and southern cities since July last year, according to the police.[...]

Alleging widespread marijuana smoking among foreign teachers, the police said the country needs a more thorough system to identify illegal hemp use among native English-speaking teachers here.

“We plan to further broaden our investigation as there are assumed to be more hemp-circulation rings involving native teachers (of English),” a police official said.

This was in fact simply a reprinted Yonhap article, which was a translation of this Korean language Yonhap article, published at 9am that morning, and the first to break the story. They're quite similar, except for the last two paragraphs:

Police argued that the current tests carried out on native speaking instructors within two weeks of being hired, which make it possible to confirm whether they have used drugs, should be replaced with systematic supplementary measures such as new testing methods or periodic testing carried out after being hired.

A police official said, "We ascertained the routes of distribution by questioning the suspects and hagwon officials we contacted." "We believe there are more groups distributing marijuana which involve native speaking instructors and plan to expand the investigation."

The final sentence is standard for articles about drug investigations, but suggesting carrying out periodic testing is most certainly not.

NoCut News published an article with more information and a slightly catchier title:

Again, native speaking instructor drug crime... including a hip hop singer and university professor.

[...]

Those arrested include 13 hagwon instructors, 10 company workers, an (American) university professor and a university student, 5 unemployed people, and 5 people working as consultants or used car dealers.

H is charged with selling 438 grams of marijuana for 70,000-150,000 per gram netting 72 million won.

The 5 who were arrested taught English mostly to kindergarten students and elementary, middle, or high school students at well known hagwons in places like Seoul, Seongnam, Cheonan, and Asan and got into the 'pot business' to make money for living and entertainment expenses.

The police investigation found that there is a step when hiring native speaking instructors in which the hagwon must receive a medical report' including drug test results, but this is often ignored.

Police explained that the [current tests are] normally only effective in detecting drug use within the past 1-2 weeks, making it difficult to catch [users], and that native speaking instructors who have used drugs can easily find new jobs.

70,000-150,000 per gram? If you're wanting to ask, "Who would pay those prices?" we'll get to that in a minute or two. NoCut News seems to be, by stating that current tests are "normally only effective in detecting drug use within the past 1-2 weeks," also pushing for periodic drug tests. I'm not sure I'd take seriously the opinion of a paper in regard to drug policy when it posts photos like this to illustrate a marijuana bust:


An MBC report included this shot of the press conference given at Mapo police station on the morning of the 17th:


It's hard to read, but it breaks down those arrested by nationality, with 9 Canadians, 8 Americans, and 20 Koreans. It also makes clear that 32 were booked without detention, not 31. Newsis also included some shots of the conference:

(From here)

(From here.)

It certainly looks like the police were busy.

The Chosun Ilbo's article, published on the 18th, states that the hip hop singer's last name is Ham, and he performed in Hongdae clubs. It states that 483 grams were sold, 'enough to be smoked a thousand times.' I was thinking that figure might be a typo, but MBC's report on the night of the 17th also quoted 483 grams, but announced instead that it was enough for 480 people.

The MBC report also brought up something not mentioned previously - that the 'office workers' who were arrested were, in fact, the children of well known, affluent leaders of society:

"In the case of some children of the rich who had experience studying overseas, they easily had access to and experience with drugs in a foreign country and when they returned to Korea they bought drugs from foreigners or gyopo."

Among those caught for smoking marijuana was the grandson of the founder of a jaebeol group, a vice president of a social commerce company, the nephew of the president of a savings bank, the chairman of a jaebol subsidiary, and the son of a well known professor at a prestigious university.

However, police today announced the results of the investigation, but the children of these leaders of society were simply identified as 'office workers,' raising suspicions of lobbying to cover it up.

So, if you were wondering who would be willing to pay 70,000-150,000 per gram, I think this answers the question. The MBC report also mentions that one instructor already received a suspended sentence before for distributing marijuana. This Munhwa Ilbo article also states this -and adds some other rather interesting information:

The police investigation results found that the thirteen native speaking instructors, including H, were Canadian and American citizens of Korean ethnicity who taught English to elementary, middle and high school students in well known hagwons, while secretly trafficking in marijuana as part of a group. In particular, it was found that H had in the past received a suspended sentence in court for the same crime, but as he hadn't received any sanctions, he worked as a native speaking instructor and committed the same crime again.

In other words, H is too stupid to live [if the previous bust was in Korea]. If the allegations are true and he jumped back into dealing again after having been caught once and given a break, somehow I doubt he'll be getting a suspended sentence this time.

Suspended sentences or other lenient punishments like fines are actually not that uncommon. It only seems to be in recent years that the sentences of foreign teachers have been reported, and the ones I've come across include an American teacher in Jeju who was fined for importing marijuana seeds in July 2010, another American teacher in Jeju who got a suspended sentence for mailing herself a cake made of marijuana (in August 2010), an American teacher in Busan who got a suspended sentence for mailing himself JWH-018 in September 2010, and three Korean Canadians arrested for Ketamine (or meth) who received suspended sentences in September 2011. Also, as it turns out, the teacher arrested in November for smuggling hash (a 'new kind of drug'!) from Canada ended up getting a suspended sentence as well (2 and a half year sentence suspended for three years, along with a 1,450,000 won fine) at the end of December. [I should add that US soldiers tried for drug offenses in July and November last year and January this year also received fines or suspended sentences.]

Now to the other important part of that Munhwa Ilbo article - the fact that "the thirteen native speaking instructors, including H, were Canadian and American citizens of Korean ethnicity." When NoCut News reported this - "when hiring native speaking instructors in which the hagwon must receive a 'medical report' including drug test results, but this is often ignored" - I figured that either they were quite ignorant of E-2 visa rules, in which it's impossible to ignore this step (not surprising for a journalist/editor that thinks marijuana is a white powder), or that the teachers in question were on F visas. If the teachers are 'Canadian and American citizens of Korean ethnicity,' then it's much more likely that they are F-4 visa holders, and in that case E-2 visa drug testing rules would not apply to them.

However, the newly amended hagwon law, which, under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, requires drug testing to get a hagwon job, would apply to them. It's possible that teachers currently employed would not have been tested yet, though according to the bill, they should have been by now:

Article 5 (Interim Measures for foreign instructors carrying out foreign language instruction) According to the revised regulations in article 13-2, those currently working as foreign instructors must submit the documents listed in article 13-2 within one month of this law coming into effect.

If it has been necessary to submit these documents, then this is likely what the police refer to when they say 'this is often ignored.' Which brings us to the suggestion that, perhaps before instituting new, stronger, 'periodic testing' of foreign instructors, the police might want to see to it that the laws currently in place are actually enforced before making new ones?

I should also mention that, if you were thinking that the sons and daughters of the rich getting caught smoking pot would be a big news story, think again. There have been over 25 reports on this drug bust focusing on foreign instructors being arrested, but only two - the MBC report which broke the story and a Money Today report the next day which focused exclusively on the story - have mentioned the 'children of the rich' angle. But then, who would you target? The children of the people who run the country, or comparatively powerless foreigners? It's not a difficult question to answer.

Yonhap was obviously having a slow news day when they broke this story. Within 90 minutes of the Korean language article going up, a translation was published, and several hours after that they put out an editorial titled "It's regretful that English education is entrusted to marijuana [smoking] native speakers." I'll post that tomorrow.

High school students facing 'first grade stress'

At the top of Naver earlier today was a Hankyoreh report stating that, after a first grade high school committed suicide on Tuesday, it was confirmed that another first grade high school student killed himself and one other attempted suicide in Gangnam at the end of last year. Teachers and students agree that the level of stress for first year students is just as bad as that of third year students.

Police confirmed that in December a 17 year old student jumped from an apartment building near his house in Gangnam (just like in the most recent case). He'd transferred from a school north of the river and ahead of his final exams got drunk one night and jumped. He couldn't adjust to the much stricter atmosphere in Ganngam schools, his marks went down, and he was penalized many times. Students were shocked by his suicide, the vice principle said, and as the school has more students than other schools who don't adjust well, a counsellor was brought in after the incident to concentrate on first graders.

Even more shocking was the story from last November of another 17 year-old first grader who jumped out the window of a fourth floor classroom at school suddenly while class was in progress. Luckily, she only suffered a broken leg, and is living a normal school live now. She apparently told an official that students live well and study well in Gangnam's 8th district, and she was so stressed from studying for an/the university entrance exam that she jumped. [One wonders how traumatized her classmates were.]

Students tell teachers that the stress begins when they receive marks that are lower than their middle school scores, with one student saying he just wanted to die when he saw his first test results.

Changes in Itaewon over the years

To continue on from this post about a portrayal of Itaewon in 1984, I'll direct you to Kim Eun-Shil's 2004 Korea Journal article "Itaewon as an Alien Space within the Nation-State and a Place in the Globalization Era."

Itaewon was called the "Las Vegas of Seoul," which meant that it had turned into a recreation center and a place of cultural consumption for American soldiers. Until recently, the Korean mass media viewed Itaewon as a place of excretory culture, where American soldiers engaged in hedonism, prostitution, illegal drugs, and criminal activities. But in the globalization process, transnational phenomena have become everyday affairs and the cultural particularity of Itaewon is fading. [...]

Located near the Yongsan base, Itaewon started out as a military camptown for soldiers stationed in Yongsan. In the 1960s, foreign diplomatic establishments were set up in Itaewon-dong and Hannam-dong, and in 1963, a group of American army apartments were built as a collective foreign residential area in the firing ranges. Itaewon became a comfort zone for American soldiers. Indeed, Itaewon is still widely regarded as Seoul's American military district to the present day. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Itaewon had been developed into a densely crowded commercial area with a large number of recreational businesses, earning it the name "shopping paradise by day, prostitution paradise by night."[...]

To many Koreans, Itaewon was the place of the American Dream throughout the 1970s and into the mid-1980s. It was the general assumption that the U.S. was a wealthy country, and Korean women were under the impression that American men were kind to women and children and liberal compared to Korean men. Therefore, many Korean women regarded marriage with Americans to be an upgrade of life.

Much of this is in accord with the 1984 Kyunghyang Sinmun article. Things began to change with the Olympics on there horizon. Here is a September 28, 1988 Korea Times article pitching Itaewon to tourists during the Olympics:



It mostly focuses on shopping, but the post Olympics era brought on changes for Itaewon, including problems with providing cheap, authentic (made-in-Korea) clothes, which led to knock-offs which were eventually cracked down on by authorities. There were other changes as well:

Ms. Yi says that after the 1988 Olympics and into the 1990s, there was a change in the consciousness of the women working as waitresses in Itaewon. In the 1990s, female college students working part time in Itaewon preferred to travel to the U.S. rather than marry an American. There began a pattern of student employees working for 6 to 12 months in Korea and then leaving for the U.S. to study English. With the liberalization of travel overseas and the rapid growth of the Korean economy, as well as a general change in social consciousness, the dreams of marrying Americans lost a great deal of their appeal. [...]

Many interviewees said that during the Olympics, Itaewon was packed with tourists, but that afterwards, the mass media looked down on Itaewon as a place of crime and squalor. They were angry that the government first behaved as if it were satisfied with earning dollars, but that once Itaewon became famous, the government treated the neighborhood as if it were corrupt.[...]

All foreigners and tourists visiting Itaewon are represented as male; female foreigners and tourists do not acquire self-representation in Itaewon. Most of the discourses that exist on Itaewon masculinize the foreigners in Itaewon and feminize Itaewon as a place that provides women and pleasure.

The identity of Korean women in Itaewon encounters a clash in the presence of Korean men. The owners of recreational businesses in Itaewon have asserted that Itaewon's clubs should be made into foreigner-only establishments. According to them, Korean men cannot bear feeling like they are being served worse than the foreign male customers by Korean women or watching Korean women leave their table to greet foreigners. They say that it is not hard to see drunken Koreans creating a scene and screaming that it is anti-nationalist for Korean women to provide better service to foreign men in Korea. Such behavior shows the patriarchal and male-centered idea that Korean women belong to the nation-state or are a property of Korean men. The tension around the territory of Itaewon is manifested as a struggle over who owns Korean women, rather than the direct confrontation between the American army and Korean men. Mr. Sin and Ms. Yi, both owners of recreational businesses, say that when Korean men come to a bar or club in Itaewon, the night usually ends in a brawl. This indicates an underlying competition over territory in the frontier zone, with women as the medium.

Of course, the research for this article is likely more than ten years old, and even by 2004, things were changing, as this lengthy Joongang Daily article from 2004, about how more Koreans were starting to go to Itaewon, points out:

John Yoo, a 37-year-old Korean having dinner with his wife at Le Saint-Ex, says that the perception of Itaewon has changed. In the past, he says, there were two kinds of girls who came to Itaewon: those who “serviced” GIs and those who wanted to meet and marry a GI to move to the United States.

“But now, if I see a Korean girl in Itaewon, I think maybe she has friends who are foreigners or maybe she’s married to a foreigner,” he says.

His wife, who is a few years younger, disagrees. She loves coming to Itaewon during the day to shop, she admits, but “a Korean girl at night in Itaewon still looks bad.”[...]

B.C. Chong, who has had a tailor shop in Itaewon since 1972, holds administrative positions with the Korea and Itaewon Special Tourism Zone Associations. He recalls that in the 1960s and 1970s, Itaewon was a seedier place, full of bars with strip shows and open prostitution. With the rapes, fights and violence that occurred there between GIs and Koreans during that time, Itaewon got a reputation as a dangerous place.

At that time, Mr. Chong says, “any Korean girl walking or hanging around with a GI, we treat her like a prostitute. Why do you meet a GI? For what?” he asks. “For money. Selling your body, that’s all.” But now, he says, it’s very different. No one thinks that way anymore about Korean women who come to Itaewon because the neighborhood has changed, he says.

A friend who had been away from Korea for three years told me he was surprised by the number of Koreans he saw in Itaewon late at night. Perhaps part of the reason for the increase over the last year has been this song and video, though I imagine it both captured a bit of the already-existing move in that direction, and propelled it further.

Itaewon in 1984: An unfamiliar foreign zone within Seoul

The French foreign language teacher scandal of 1984

Prelude 1: The 1983 Law "Limiting Aliens' Residence Period" and banning "unqualified" foreigners from working.
Prelude 2: "Koreans have a weakness for Foreigners"
Prelude 3: 10,000 illegal sojourners or immigration cheaters... the days and nights of Itaewon

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

Prelude 3: 10,000 illegal sojourners or immigration cheaters... the days and nights of Itaewon

On July 23, 1984, the Kyunghyang Sinmun published this lengthy report about Itaewon:

10,000 illegal sojourners or immigration cheaters... the days and nights of Itaewon

Seoul is a paradise for foreign gypsies.
A 'livelihood' from teaching conversation to housewives and university coeds
20 international marriages a month
70% divorce on the way to their home country
"There are lots of young women who follow them and spend their money on them"
Enter on a tourist visa and continue to stay...there are also crimes like theft and fraud

Seoul’s foreigner village, Itaewon, frequented by races from 59 countries, where a flourishing international shopping area coexists with the vanity of women in their 20s who go astray. (The photo is not related to the article.) Taken the afternoon of July 21 in Itaewon.

If you turn left from Banpo Negeori, where the statue of General Coulter used to stand, you could suddenly find yourself believing that you were in the downtown of some western city in America. On both sides of the street stand shop after shop, all with English signs, where a white women in shorts speaking English bargains with a Korean clerk in a clothing store. As well, a large black man passes by walking arm in arm with a slim figured Korean woman who looks like a university student.

Seoul Yongsan-gu Itaewon.

To be exact, the streets between Yongsan-gu Itaewon1Dong 127 beonji and 136 beonji make up a 'foreign country zone in Seoul' and an 'Ethnic exhibition within Korea,' where foreigners living in Korea gather.

It is a place where street vendors who shout, "Good Price (Cheap)," a shopping area more advanced than Myeong-dong, and clubs and bars for foreigners' "nighlife" coexist.

Tourist and shopping area

Itaewon began to prosper as the foreign village of today in 1971, when the US 8th Army 121st Evacuation Hospital moved to the 8th army barracks. After that, around 10,000 civilians, DOD civilians, and hospital employees moved to the area and were followed by merchants, and the shopping area began to develop. In the mid 1970s luxurious houses reserved for foreigners and also high class houses were built at the foot of Namsan above Itaewon-ro (street).

The Itaewon area is divided into four zones: the foreign zone shopping area surrounding Itaewon-ro, the so-called "Texas Street" area above the fire station, named for its adult entertainment district and camptown (기지촌) with prostitutes (위안부) for foreigners, Bo'gwang-dong, where the houses of Korean working class people (서민) and the Crown Hotel are found, and the area with luxurious foreign houses above Itaewon-ro.

Itaewon's shopping area exudes a foreign atmosphere. Kim's Variety Shop, U.S. Kim Tailor, Portrait and Gift Shop, etc.

Along the 1.5 km long stretch from Banpo intersection to Hannam-dong are around a thousand stores with English signs crowded together. The Itaewon shopping area has become an attraction for famous people who always come to the area when visiting Korea.

Last year when President Reagan visited Korea he sent an attendant to U.S. Kim Tailor to have two suits made, and Secretary of State Shultz personally visited the area to shop three times. Tax authorities estimate that sales in the area total more than 50 million dollars a year (40 billion won).

The number of foreign residents that could be identified in the area by the authorities at the end of June were 7,110 people from 59 different countries.

7000 legal residents

There are 210 households in the the Namsan Oe-in Apartments, 50 in the Namsan Oe-in Jutaek, 50 in the Itaewon-dong Oe-in Jutaek, 50 in the UN Villa, and 118 in the Hilltop Apartments, as well as those checked into the New Yongsan, Hamilton or Crown Hotels or paying cheap monthly rent in Itaewon-dong or Bogwang-dong. By nationality, 60% were American, 20% were Japanese, and 10% were Chinese, with other nationalities making up the other 10%.

Japanese and Chinese, however, do not usually set foot in the Itaewon shopping area. Residents say this is because of a "White complex" towards white people.

However, of the 7,110 people, legal sojourners holding resident visas such as resident foreigners, company employees, and USFK family members from 29 countries have been identified.

Separate from these are also an estimated 10,000 foreigners who have overstayed their tourist visa period or are living as illegal immigrants. Foreigners who are long term sojourners on tourist visas game the system by going to Japan for a day or two when their 60 day visa stay is up and returning, extending their stay for another 60 days. There are also many illegal sojourners whose visas expire and who live unconditionally [in Korea].

Foreigners like these who are not formal residents are called 'vagabonds/itinerants [뜨내기]' or 'gypsies' in Itaewon.

Why do they linger around the Itaewon area and not leave Korea? "There is no other place like Korea where foreigners are treated so well," answered a foreign vagabond.

Vagabonds make a living finding jobs as English translators or earn living expenses by working as English conversation instructors or teaching private lessons.

In 1977 Thomas (29) finished his service in the US Eight Army and returned home to Illinois where, he said, "There was no work and nothing going on, so I returned to Korea to live."

"Having English and some Korean, there is no difficulty making a living." He can make a million won a month teaching private English conversation classes to housewives. Also, in his area, he hinted that, "I also have friends who date and teach English to Korean girlfriends who have lots of money, and they get adequate pocket money." "It's not just foreigners' prostitutes, now it's female university students or teenagers from good families who chase after foreigners and spend money on them, and when I see it I think it's pathetic," said Hong Gwan-pyo, who has sold souvenirs in the area for 8 years, with a sour look on his face.

There are many cases where, because American soldiers or vagabond foreigners have been approached out of curiosity or a vague longing by young women, they have enjoyed themselves without spending a cent. Miss Gang (24), a prostitute who serves foreigners, complained that, "Because of these kids who spend their own money and chase after them, the money we receive for sex is only 10-20 dollars, the same as it would have been 10 years ago."

These foreigner vagabonds also easily/often turn into criminals.

There are even teenage girls

From January to June this year, the Seoul Yongsan Police station dealt with 322 crimes by foreigners. Among them, 80% or 238 involved traffic accidents or assaults, while the other 20% involved theft or fraud.

The police station or local police box deal with one or two incidents of assault by foreigners in Itaewon's Texas alley every day. The cause of most assaults are trifling incidents like when disputes arise over treading on another's foot while dancing, and the inability to understand each other turns into a fist fight.

As well, among foreign vagabond criminals there are shameless crimes like taking money from women in their 20s on the pretext of international marriage. There are sometimes violent incidents by uneducated blacks such as the rape of women as well.

The night in Itaewon increasingly exudes an exotic atmosphere and changes into an entertainment area. Within a 500 m radius of the fire station are night streets where prostitutes for foreigners engage in pleasure activities like in the camp towns of Suwon or Pyeongtaek. So-called business girls, 'enjoyment tribes' of women and teenage girls, soldiers who have emerged [from their bases] and foreign vagabonds engage in revelry there.

It's 9pm on the 21st in a club on the so-called Texas Street. In a club which has a sign which clearly says 'foreigners only,' about 30 [Korean] women in their 20s shake their bodies to the constant disco music.

Women who pay no heed to the [sign] restricting entry for Koreans enter and are not stopped at all - only Korean men are stopped. Because it's early evening, there are almost no foreigners on the stage, and only Korean women dance excitedly while foreigners just watch.

At the club, Ms Yun (21, D University 3rd year), who was drinking beer with a friend, said, "When you come to Itaewon, it feels like the sense of freedom you'd get going to a foreign country." Ms Park, who greets the weekend in the Suwon camp town and is visiting Itaewon, said, "Americans are good because they're kind to girls." "My wish is to meet a nice person and have an international marriage and go to America."

However marriage to a foreigner like Ms. Park dreams of does not only have a happy ending.

International marriage agency South America Moving Corporation [?남미이주공사] spokesperson Han Hyung-sik (46) said "On average I carry out marriage procedures for about 20 international couples a month, but more than 70% return to divorce. Wearing a bitter expression, he also said, "When you see the unbearable sight of girls who come from university who fall only for the the appearance of white people who seem to be imbued with 'ladies first' kindness and then marry badly, even one's sense of national pride is ruined."

Through Itaewon's 'dollar box' shopping area's prosperity and after dark merry making, as well as the mix of different emotions like vague longing or disillusionment one feels towards foreigners, [it's reputation] as an unfamiliar foreign zone within Seoul solidifies.

So, Itaewon is an "ethnic exhibition," foreigners commit crime and live in Korea illegally, girls following foreign vagabonds around is "pathetic," marriage with them for their appearance leaves "one's sense of national pride [...] ruined," and, of course, "uneducated blacks" rape women. Good to know. Note also that one can make a million won from teaching English, and "date and teach English to Korean girlfriends." With that (and this article as well), the the foundation has been laid for the reaction to the Le Monde article which led to 'French foreign language teacher scandal of 1984.'

2011 foreign crime statistics

The Korea Times published an article titled "Police to crack down on foreign criminals" (you mean they weren't before?). Worried about terrorist attacks by foreigners at an upcoming Nuclear Security Summit,

Police also plan to deploy more officers to areas highly populated with foreign nationals at night and on weekends to deter possible criminal activities.

"Foreign gang members tend to be most active after sunset or on weekends when fewer officers are on duty," the official said.

Ignoring the Discovery Channel-esque quality of that last sentence, wouldn't that be when most criminals are active? Or do Korean gangsters act in broad daylight because of their 'special relationships' with the police?

The Times didn't publish all of the statistics from this story found in the Korean language press. Using the Hanguk Ilbo's article, let's break down the stats: In 2010, 22,543 people out of 1,261,415 foreigners in total were arrested - a crime rate of 1.787%. In 2011, 26,915 people out of 1,395,077 foreigners in total were arrested - a crime rate of 1.929%. As the article notes, the number of foreigners arrested went from 22,543 to 26,915 - an increase of 19.3%. The foreign population at that time grew from 1,261,415 to 1,395,077 - an increase of 10.6%. And, for the more pertinent figure, the crime rate among foreigners went from 1.787% to 1.929% - an increase of 7.94%.

The article lists Itaewon, Daerim-dong in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Garibong-dong in Guro-gu, and Wongok-dong in Ansan as as 'the four main areas where foreigners are concentrated.' It says that in 2010 2,730 people were arrested in those areas, and in 2011 3,432 people were arrested - an increase of 25.7%. It should be noted that those arrested there in 2010 made up 12.1% of the total number of foreigners arrested that year, while in 2011 they made up 12.75%, so there hasn't been a huge increase in the share of crime that people living there commit (only an increase of 5.3%). It also said that out of a total of 3,704 people arrested for violent crimes, 830, or 22.4%, of those arrested lived in the 'four main areas.' As well, 50 out of 84 wanted foreign criminals are assumed to be living in those areas. The Times didn't bother to mention the four areas, describing them only as 'Itaewon and other districts.' The Times did finish on a fair enough note, however:

The number of crimes committed by non-Koreans here has soared over the years in line with the growing number of foreign residents, which has reached close to 1.4 million as of 2011, accounting for about 2.7 percent of the country's population.

I haven't seen any statistics for the Korean crime rate last year, but in previous years the foreign crime rate has been about half that of the Korean crime rate.

As for Itaewon, I'll be delving into a bit more of its history, and Korean perceptions of it, tomorrow.

Chungcheongnam-do to require teaching certificates for all NSETs

On February 8, Daejeon City Journal published the following article:

More than half of Chungcheongnam-do native speaking teachers do not have teaching certificates.

Chungcheongnam-do office of education pushing for 100% of native speaking teachers to have teaching certificates.

It's been revealed that over 50% of native speaking assistant teachers placed in Chungcheongnam-do area elementary, middle and high schools do not meet the provincial office of education's enhanced employment standard of having teaching certificates.

Accordingly, the Chungcheongnam-do office of education plans to have all native speaking assistant teachers placed in the province have teaching certificates by the end of the year.

▲ File photo

According to the Chungcheongnam-do office of education on the 8th, there are 586 native speaking assistant teachers from the 7 countries which use English working in Chungcheongnam-do.

The Chungcheongnam-do office of education strengthened the 'native speaking assistant teacher employment standard' to prevent harm to students caused by inappropriate words and behavior and controversy over qualifications of some native speaking assistant teachers.

According to the strengthened standards, native speaking assistant teachers must possess more than one certificate out of a choice of a teaching certificate obtained in their home country and certificates which recognize English instruction ability like TESOL, TEFEL, or CELTA.

However, at the moment, out of 586 native speakers in the Chungcheongnam-do area, 206 have these certificates, leaving half who do not.

The office of education explained that around 80 undergraduates with scholarships have been supported and placed by the government as native speakers, and that, including the number of native speaking teachers supported by local governments, there are university students who do not yet have teaching certificates. [These would be part of the TALK program.]

An office of education official said, "Out of the total number of native speaking instructors, there are 291 affiliated with the office of education. More than 200 of these have teaching certificates, and by the end of the year 100% of teachers placed will have teaching certificates." "We are asking that city and county governments cooperate in supporting native speaking instructors with teaching certificates."

Typically, it's a misleading title, as the last paragraph reveals. The office of education official makes clear the 'end of the year' deadline is only for teachers directly affiliated with the office, and not (necessarily) for those hired by local governments. As it turns out, the figure of 206 is also not really correct either (or it won't be in two weeks). A Jungdo Ilbo article says 206 have certificates now, but with 51 new hires and 22 people who recently obtained certificates who didn't have them last year, the number will increase to 279. Hence in two weeks 279 out of 291 of the teachers the office is directly focusing on will have certificates. Not quite the 'less than half' (for those under the direct control of the education office) the headline touts. As well, the Jungdo Ilbo adds that the teachers currently in the province are 325 Americans, 115 South Africans, 63 Canadians, 44 British, 18 Australians, 13 New Zealanders, and 8 from Ireland. However, it makes no mention of 'more than one' certificate being needed. I'd tend to imagine, though, if 22 people "recently obtained certificates who didn't have them last year" (and did this by not leaving the country), a TESOL certificate is probably enough.

Yonhap, which broke the story earlier that day, reported that "Currently there are 279 people with a teaching certificate obtained in their home country and a certificate which recognizes English instruction ability like TESOL, 'TEFEL,' or CELTA." So it seems to suggest that both are needed, and uses the figure of 279, making it clearer that Daejeon City Journal went out of its way to choose the lowest figure. As for a paragraph in the latter paper, Yonhap reports that it was a quotation:

A provincial office of education official said, "We strengthened the 'native speaking assistant teacher employment standard' to prevent harm to students caused by inappropriate words and behavior and controversy over qualifications of some native speaking English teachers who have come here."

The Yonhap article also ends on a rather interesting note:

Meanwhile, the results of a survey looking at satisfaction with native speaking assistant teachers by the provincial office of education which last December queried 1,960 elementary, middle and high school students and 588 parents showed that parents and students both had a 90% satisfaction rate. It revealed that 93% of students and 92% of parents hope that native speakers will continue to be placed in schools.

It should be noted that in 2006 Chungcheongnam-do had the highest placement rate for native speakers in schools (54%, at the time), so the province has been pursuing this for some time. In 2010 it had the lowest (ie. best) ratio for foreign teachers to students (see below as well).

On a related note, on February 3, the Segye Ilbo reported that the Ministry of Education and the Korea Education Development Institute recently released statistics which said that out of 754 schools in the Jeollabuk-do, there are only 26 native speaking teachers, making for a placement rate of 3.4%. This is less than not only the national average (26.6%), but far less than the placement rate for small and medium cities (49.3%) and even less than for remote areas like islands (10.2%).

What's amusing is that the article ends with a comment by an official from the provincial office of education saying that he doesn't understand what the MoE based their statistics on, since there are currently 278 NSETs teaching classes with Korean teachers in the province (an increase from 214 in 2010, as the stats below (originally posted here) reveal):


Just for fun, the left half of the chart is the number of students divided by the number of NSETs (3rd column). The right half of the chart is the total number of schools and number of schools where NSETs work (3rd column) and the percentage. What's interesting is that you can get an idea of how many schools the teachers work at. In Seoul and Gyeonggi-do there more NSETs than schools, whereas in Jeollabuk-do, there 214 teachers working in 503 schools. Still, Jeollabuk-do (in 2010) had a lower ratio of students to NSETs than Seoul or Gyeonggi, simply because of the large number of students in the latter areas. Now that Jeollabuk-do has more teachers and SMOE and GEPIK are cutting teachers, students in Jeollabuk-do theoretically have more access to NSETs in public schools than those in capital area, which makes the mistake by the MoE even more humorous.

As for the MoE losing track of over 200 NSETs, it's not the first time the government (or a politician, rather) has lost foreign teachers.

"Koreans have a weakness for Foreigners"

The French foreign language teacher scandal of 1984

Prelude 1: The 1983 Law "Limiting Aliens' Residence Period" and banning "unqualified" foreigners from working.
Prelude 2: "Koreans have a weakness for Foreigners"
Prelude 3: 10,000 illegal sojourners or immigration cheaters... the days and nights of Itaewon

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

Prelude 2: "Koreans have a weakness for Foreigners"

Below is a Donga Ilbo article from June 21, 1984. Its subject, Mr. Hadkyn, is mentioned in two articles (here and here) that make up part of the reaction to the 'French foreign language teacher scandal of 1984' (I've reorganized the links at the top of that post, and will later add this to the 'preludes' section).

"Koreans have a weakness for Foreigners"

American lived and ate well for free for one year

[In front of] detectives from Seoul Jongno Police Station an American was sitting awkwardly with wide eyes.

He was managing to follow the questions detectives asked in a mix of English and Korean, and he was obediently answering in a mix of English and Korean.

A handsome man with a slim figure, his name is John Hadkym. He's 37 this year and his crime is embezzlement using lost property, document forgery, and accompanying charges.

Mr. Hadkym picked up off a street in Itaewon 5 credit cards including a 'Diner's Card' lost by Mrs. "Jemiredi," the wife of a US military officer, in the middle of last month [May], and until June 8 used them 15 times to purchase jewels worth 4,140,000 won from jewelers such as in the first Lotte [store].

He continued his criminal acts of posing as someone else until the 7th when an employee at the Korea branch of 'Diner's [club]' received a theft notice from the main office and contacted the police, who caught him.

Mr. Hadkym, who dropped out of university in his hometown of San Francisco and had nothing better to do, eventually ended up in Korea last May for the purpose of 'tourism.'

Last July he changed his tourist visa to a work visa and worked an office job for two months at Korean branch of 'Central Texas' University on the grounds of the US 8th Army and then stopped working for a living entirely in Korea.

For one year he had no job and lived and ate for free.

However, instead of looking shabbily dressed, he looked impressive and robust.

His secret was simple. "Koreans are unconditionally kind to and spend money on Americans."

Female workers in night spots for the Amercan military in places like Seoul or Dongducheon would give him a place to stay and even female university students wouldn't skimp on buying him drinks or food. "I gave the jewels I bought with the credit cards to girls who I owed, but none would take them so I sent them to my parents in America," Hadkyn said.

Hadkyn added, "I know that there are hundreds of foreigners in Korea like me." "Koreans are particularly kind to foreigners, especially white people." As to why there are so many people who are this kind and generous to foreigners for no reason, Hadkym had no answer.

I like how the writer indirectly asks that important question at the end. Another Donga Ilbo article which was published exactly two months later, during the backlash to the Le Monde report about French foreign language teachers in Seoul, would not be so indirect (and added another quote from him):

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.

These same themes (worship of English as a sickness, being overly kind to foreigners, the need for self respect) would come up again 21 years later during the response to the English Spectrum incident.

The May 2011 ordinance to "'Expel' drug addicted, molesting foreign instructors" from Gyeonggi-do

On May 3, the Gyeongin Ilbo published an article titled "'Expel' drug addicted, molesting foreign instructors" which was about an ordinance being considered by the Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly, which was not directed at foreign instructors alone (but they had newspapers to sell, right?). I described it in this post at the time:

A look at the bill itself, which can be found here, makes things clearer. The goal of the bill is to change the criteria for taking administrative measures against hagwons, in this case, for failure to carry out criminal record checks for sex crimes and drug offenses. Thus the bill will revise the existing law for hagwons in places where it restricts the fundamental rights of students. In regard to this, it lists the following aims:

To establish standards for administrative penalties according to the enforcement of a system to restrict employment of those who have committed sex crimes against children or youth, according to article 44 of the 'Child and youth sexual protection law.'

As there have been cases of foreign instructors arrested for things such as taking and trafficking drugs, in order to prevent the teaching activities of those addicted to narcotics or other drugs, penalty clauses will be established and criteria of administrative measures will be prepared.

Another aim is to set penalties for hagwon owners or instructors who do not complete training courses.

On May 9, 2011, a Newsis article took a further look at the bill:

Dispute by standing committee over passage of bill to 'Expel' drug addicted native speaking instructors .

A bill to take administrative measures against hagwons that hire foreign or Korean instructors who take or smuggle drugs was passed by the pertinent standing committee on the 9th.

The bill is the first to be proposed in the country, but there is dispute as to the lawfulness of the bill, as there is no basis for the administrative measures found in the higher law.

On that morning at the opening of the 259th provisional session of the provincial assembly's board of education, 53 people including Rep. Choi Chang-ui (Gyeonggi) and Lee Sang-hun (Bucheon) passed a vote on the original draft of the jointly proposed "Partly revised bill on the Ordinance for the establishment and management of hagwons and private lessons in Gyeonggi-do."

The provincial assembly and provincial office of education both agreed that the bill's ordering of stage by stage administrative measures for hagwons which do not carry out criminal record checks for sex crimes or who hire sex criminals was possible based on the "Child and youth sexual protection law" promulgated in April last year.

But the problem is that in order to [be able to] take administrative measures against hagwons which hire drug addicts, the higher law, the 'Law for the establishment and management of hagwons and private lessons' must authorize it, but the law does not stipulate such things.

Article 22 of the Local Autonomy Act stipulates that ordinances can be enacted within the scope of the law, and that legal authorization(/mandate of law) is necessary when limiting residents' rights by imposing obligations or determining penalties.

The provincial education office revealed in its opinion sent to the provincial assembly that "The preparation of administrative measure regulations in the form of an ordinance to thoroughly block those addicted to narcotics and psychotropic drugs when hiring hagwon instructors is pressing, but enforcement of the ordinance would realistically be difficult."

The results of an advising lawyer's assessment, concluding that the enforcement of such an ordinance would be impossible, was also sent to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) together with a request for (the MEST's) decision regarding this matter.

Amid all this, the provincial assembly's education committee passed the original bill, emphasizing that 'the rights of a student to receive education from an instructor upright in mind and body' must be respected over 'the rights of a hagwon instructor to find work.'

Rep. Choi Chang-ui said, "Having instructors addicted to drugs in charge of the education of children is a serious situation. It is not that the ordinance runs contrary to the higher law, it is only weak in its argument." "We should not allow drug addicts to be hired by hagwons and should give a positive interpretation of the right of students to receive education in an upright environment."

An education ministry official said, "Not only the provincial education office but also at the level of the education ministry the legality of the ordinance is being considered through an advising lawyer." "A plan regarding a request for reconsideration of the Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly's decision will be determined on the basis of the results of consultation with an advising lawyer."

The ordinance will be finally settled at the 4th regular session on the 14th.

This might sound a lot like, 'Well, it's not really legal, but we'll pass it anyway.' On May 15, the Simin Ilbo reported further on the bills:

Drug addicted native speaking teachers are being expelled in Gyeonggi-do
A revised ordinance in the Provincial Assembly is the first in the country; hagwons who hire [drug addicts] face administrative measures

For the first time anywhere in Korea, the Gyeonggi-do Provincial Assembly passed an amendment ordinance actually allowing the expulsion of Korean or foreign instructors for taking or smuggling drugs.

On the 15th the provincial assembly announced that 17 items, including an ordinance allowing administrative penalties to be taken against hagwons which hire Korean or foreign instructors who take or smuggle drugs, had been passed and [the session] closed on the 13th.

[...]

Though there was controversy over the legality of this ordinance's administrative penalties as it had no basis in the higher law, the bill was passed unanimously in the provincial assembly.

This is because Article 22 of the Local Autonomy Law does not allow for individual ordinances to limit residents' fundamental rights without the authorization of a higher law.

Therefore, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the education office were expected to ask for a reconsideration, but as these organizations are sympathetic to the intent of the ordinance, they will not raise any issues.

An official at the Ministry of Education said, “As there were no regulations in regard to the great social problem of instructors addicted to drugs, we were in the process of revising the existing ‘hagwon law.’ However, the Gyeonggi-do Provincial Assembly went ahead before us and established an ordinance. Since it was a matter of only about one month difference in terms of procedural issues, we could not completely deny the ordinance and therefore decided to deliberate with the Provincial Education Office and not request a reconsideration.

So, it wasn't legal to pass it at the time, but it would be okay in a month or two when amendments to the Hagwon law were passed in the National Assembly (on June 29). I found it interesting that the Gyeongin Ilbo reported later in July that

The 8th Gyeonggi-do provincial assembly has, since June [2010], handled 126 items, and among those 72 or 57% were tabled by assembly members. During that time the executive branch (provincial office and provincial office of education) submitted 54 (43%) ordinances , which is 18 items less than those submitted by assembly members, and those tabled by the executive branch have passed first.

What ordinance did the paper give as its first example?

Among these was an ordinance to expel native speaking teachers addicted to drugs[.]

That the ordinance was passed without the authority of a higher law (temporarily) is understandable, of course, since it's meant to combat the "great social problem of instructors addicted to drugs." Or as Rep. Choi Chang-ui put it, "Having instructors addicted to drugs in charge of the education of children is a serious situation. [...] We should not allow drug addicts to be hired by hagwons."

On the one hand, this could be said to show how seriously Koreans take drug crimes, even those involving marijuana (which is the drug most foreign teachers are busted for and which is often tolerated in North America). Still, it's interesting that he mentions "instructors addicted to drugs," because, though that connection has occasionally been made before (such as in this case) that's not generally how foreign teachers have been described. As 'drug takers' and 'drug smugglers,' yes (for example the Newsis report from a year ago which stated that "The main culprits in drug smuggling are native teachers" though they made up 14% of those arrested in 2010). But references to them as 'addicts' - by even politicians who included such language in legislation - became more common over the first half of 2011.

In February last year, the deaths (one a suicide) of two foreign teachers while drunk were used by the media (see here, here and here) as a chance to bring up "criminal acts and various scandals by native speaking teachers" and say that it's difficult to "determine drug or alcohol addiction" among such teachers, pointing to a need for better screening. As well, new E-2 drug testing regulations introduced that month called for testing only at special hospitals in order to, as one article put it, "distinguish whether a foreign English teacher is a drug addict or alcoholic." With the ordinance above, such language has made it into law, as it punishes "[h]iring someone addicted to narcotics, marijuana, or psychotropic drugs" and attempts "to prevent the teaching activities of those addicted to narcotics or other drugs" because "there have been cases of foreign instructors arrested for things such as taking and trafficking drugs[.]"

Some articles about the ordinance do not reference foreign instructors by name, such as a Gyeongin Ilbo article one from May 16 titled in part "Provincial Assembly settles "Drug instructor expulsion," which states that

On the 13th the fourth plenary session of the 259th provisional session of the Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly dealt with 17 ordinance bills including one to expel drug instructors.

However, though "drug instructor" does not mention foreigners, it's likely to be equated with foreign instructors. Of the first 150 results of a search for 강사 마약 on Naver, more than two thirds were for foreign instructors, with that figure reaching 90% if you included the 25-30 articles about this case involving entertainers and Korean American English hagwon instructors being arrested for drugs in May 2010. You've got to love the cartoon in the linked article:


It might be worth noting that the same assembly which passed this bill would, two months later, refuse to pass a supplementary budget to pay GEPIK foreign teachers which threatened hundreds of jobs.

Battle royale

'native speaker'

I was really hoping, based on the illustration, that this article would be more interesting; unfortunately, it's just about American and French English language learning programs competing for the Korean market.

Anti English Spectrum's new announcement

Anti English Spectrum, aka Citizens movement to expel illegal teachers of foreign languages, aka Citizens for proper English education, have posted a new announcement on their front page:

For 8 years, Citizens for proper English education have carried out the activities and made the efforts below:

We made it so that the materials needed to get a native speaking conversation instruction E-2 visa now include medical certificates, criminal background checks, and degree verification.

To the present, around 150 unfit instructors have been caught and brought to justice for drugs, sex crimes and forged diplomas.

We made efforts to have foreign instructors fingerprinted.

We contributed to the new kind of drug Spice Gold being designated as an illegal drug.

[We have contributed to] numerous newspapers and broadcasts which have led citizens to feel how serious the native speaking problem is.

We succeeded in reducing native speaking assistant teachers [in schools].

We've prepared legislation in contact with law making organs, cooperated with parliamentary inspections, and also worked with law enforcement agencies.

We've submitted thousands of petitions to the relevant agencies to shape public opinion about strengthening the verification of native speaking instructors.

Strange that they left out 'following foreigners and going through their garbage,' 'painting foreign instructors as AIDS-infected threats to Korean womanhood' ("thousands or tens of thousands" of whom are "the sexual playthings or sex slaves of foreign teachers"), and 'tracking down and humiliating women seen in photos with foreign instructors.' But, hey, sometimes I'm forgetful too.

As for "We succeeded in reducing native speaking assistant teachers [in schools]," this was the goal they wrote on their homepage last year (one which I never got around to posting, but will). While the media had looked at both the foreign teachers' lack of qualifications as well as their average salary in the past, talk in the media of the need to reduce foreign instructors in schools solely based on budget concerns may have been predated by AES saying on their front page last year that 300 trillion won was being wasted on foreign teachers every year. Also interesting is that they said, "native speaking instructors simply using their native tongue must disappear" from English language education. The reason this is interesting because of the title SBS used when they broke the report of SMOE cutting foreign teachers back in December:

Native speaking teachers disappearing

I thought that a rather odd way to put it, at the time (especially since they weren't disappearing at all, but then I guess riling people up to attract attention is how it has to be done). Perhaps AES was simply ahead of the curve in tapping the zeitgeist, or perhaps they helped shape it (as they have before). It's hard to know either way, but it is an interesting coincidence.

Hockey night in... Korea

I discovered this site, which looks at the history of hockey in Korea. Such a history can't do without some photos, like the one below, of Canadian troops playing hockey in Korea during the war.

Future plans for Seoul's subway from 1988

On January 29, 1988, the Korea Times published this article outlining the future plans for Seoul's subway system:


Interesting that the idea then was for extensions and spur lines. Line 4 was pretty much extended as planned, but the Kimpo and Chonho spurs were (roughly) eventually joined to make line 5, while line 3 was extended only a little (and extended a little further again in 2010), with the Godok and Songnam spurs basically being joined to make line 8. Spur lines as an idea haven't died, really - several light rail spur lines are planned to be built throughout Seoul over the next decade - see here and here for more information.