Former gyopo gangsters with fake degrees caught teaching in hagwons

[Update: There's more on this here and here.]

Newsis issued this report this morning:

Former gangster native speaking instructors... instructors and a broker caught with faked backgrounds

A number of language instructors, and the broker ring which found them their hagwon jobs, have been caught for faking academic backgrounds. What's shocking is that among them is a gang member who committed serious crimes in the US.

The Seoul Police International Crime Division Lab on the 8th arrested 2 unqualified instructors who faked their academic backgrounds in order to work, including 38 year old Mr. Kim, for document forgery, and issued warrants for three others, including 29 year old Mr. Lee, for the same offense.

Mr. Kim is accused of taking money from Korean Americans wanting to work as native speaking instructors but who lacked the qualifications, forging academic credentials and introducing them to language hagwons.

The police investigation found that Mr. Kim paid a fake degree website $100-200 USD to produce fake US university degrees and these were used to get hired by language hagwons or private middle schools.

As well, Mr. Lee served time in a Korean prison for selling marijuana and afterwards used a fake degree to work as an instructor.

It's been found that most of them were either adopted to or emigrated to the US as children, joined Korean American gangs, served time in the US for crimes such as second degree murder, kidnapping or rape, and were deported to Korea.

On weekends they would meet in Itaewon and habitually take drugs like marijuana.

A police official said, "There is great concern that children may be negatively influenced by native speaking instructors who have been recklessly hired in accordance with the social atmosphere of the English education boom." "There is a need for authorities and hagwons to strengthen the screening of teachers' backgrounds."

Police said that there are reports that the Gangnam area has more unqualified native speaking instructors who have faked their backgrounds working their and will expand their investigation, while at the same time strengthening information gathering on people who smuggle drugs to Korea like Korean Americans and overseas students.

NoCut News issued this report - helpfully titled "Native speaking teachers turned out to be murderers, gangsters, rapists and kidnappers in the US" - with more information. (I want a t-shirt with that written on it.)

It adds that 30 year old Korean American native speaking instructor Mr. Seo has been arrested for smoking marijuana, and 40 year old Ms Lee, a hagwon owner, was arrested for hiring unqualified instructors.

The Mr. Kim mentioned in the first article was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Arizona for second degree murder (accidental murder) involving a shooting, and after being deported to Korea found shelter at a religious group in Yeongdeungpo and started forging after meeting another deportee there.

Among those who Mr. Kim sold degrees to was another Mr. Kim (42), who was sentenced to 10 years in California for kidnapping and rape. And Mr. Lee, a public service worker, was sentenced to two years in prison in the US for selling marijuana and illegal firearms possession, before being deported to Korea, where he served time for selling marijuana around Sinchon before faking his background to work as an unqualified hagwon instructor.

I'm going to assume that, since they were all deported from the US, they are all Korean citizens, hence the difficulty in learning the truth about them since, working in hagwons, they are [were] not required to submit criminal record checks. The thing is, even if the new hagwon regulations apply to F visa job applicants, they still wouldn't apply to Korean citizen 'native speakers,' since the law specifically refers to the criminal record checks and drug tests being required only of non-citizens.

Usually gyopo gangster murderer arrests lead to interesting cartoons; perhaps we can expect something new to add to what we already have?

2006: 'English instructor'

2008: "Wanted" "Teacher"

2010

2011: "First degree murder"

2011

We'll have to wait and see what happens this time.

The kidnapped

On Saturday, the New York Times published an article about Lee Mi-il and her 11 year campaign to "generate more interest in the fate of tens of thousands of South Koreans believed to have been forcibly taken to North Korea during the Korean War six decades ago." As the article makes clear, the obstacles placed in the way of an inquiry into these people were put there by both Koreas.

“They [DPRK] never admit kidnapping because that would be admitting a crime,” Ms. Lee said. “They just hope we’ll all be dead soon and this will all be forgotten.”

In 2000, she shut down her nursery and established the Korean War Abductees’ Family Union, bringing together 700 families.

In 2002, her group found a 1952 government document listing 83,000 South Koreans as kidnapped, a preliminary wartime compilation that officials had previously denied existed. It was gathering dust, uncataloged, in a government library.[...]

Last year, after seven years of lobbying by her group, lawmakers passed a bill authorizing the first government investigation of wartime kidnappings. In August, the government panel confirmed 55 men as kidnapped. More such rulings are expected during its four-year inquiry. To Ms. Lee, the official recognition was a first step toward establishing a “systematic war crime” by North Korea.

According to South Korean government estimates, Communist troops and militias killed 59,000 to 122,800 South Korean civilians during the war.

There is another group which protests the kidnappings of South Koreans by the north since the end of the war. In the Kim Dong-won documentary Repatriation (2003), they are seen attempting to stop the repatriation of 'unconverted' prisoners back to North Korea in 2000, and can't help being seen as obstacles to the ultimate fulfillment of the 'plot,' of the prisoners' return home (though Kim asks one of the prisoners why he won't just meet one of the leaders of the group and at least give her a hearing). Donald Kirk wrote an article in September about these families (here, though since the link isn't working now, try the cache here).

Hwang In-Chul, the son of a television producer whom the North Koreans decided to hold after he “apparently denounced communism”, described his feelings at a forum here of the Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights. He intermingled his personal responses with sweeping criticism of South Korean authorities for their reluctance to press the case. [...]

Hwang contrasted the South Korean position with that of Japan — an example that Korean officials prefer to ignore. Unlike his own government, he said, “the Japanese government recognizes the case of North Korea’s abduction of Japanese nationals as a violation of its sovereignty, actively brings their citizens back, and continuously makes an effort to solve this problem.” [...]

Benjamin Yoon, chairman of the Citizens’ Alliance, summarized their problems. “Although family members were victims,” he said, “they were kept under tight surveillance and control by the South Korean government”. Incredibly, he added, “The stigma attached to the ‘Missing Person Household’ label,” as recorded on school records and other documents, condemned “young children of such families to endure all forms of societal prejudice and institutional discrimination.”

This reminds me a little of this story, about the families of the soldiers killed in the June 2002 naval battle between the north and south, who found it difficult to publicly mourn the fallen:
"Nervous government officials, worrying that the incident might cast a pall over the Sunshine Policy, even warned the families to please be quiet." [...] "Our children who lost their lives to the enemy are being treated like criminals who tried to ruin the atmosphere of intra-Korean reconciliation," one family member said."

This quote from Don Kirk's article was also interesting: “the Japanese government recognizes the case of North Korea’s abduction of Japanese nationals as a violation of its sovereignty, actively brings their citizens back, and continuously makes an effort to solve this problem.” This stands in contrast to South Korea, which - apparently - would rather aim at dastardly foes like the US by attempting to amend the SOFA agreement (again).

At the same time, the case of the kidnapped Japanese took years to be acted on by the Japanese government, even after it was known what had happened (as related in the book North Korea Kidnapped my Daughter, which detailed the decades-long search for the truth by the parents of Megumi Yokota, who was 13 when she was kidnapped).

(Hat tip to Ryan)

Teacher busted for spice

Yesterday afternoon Yonhap published the following article, the first of 17 on the topic:

Native speaking instructor smuggles 'spice' which is 5 times more powerful than marijuana

Seoul Dongbu prosecutor's office, 4th investigative division, has arrested and charged a 23 year old native speaking English instructor, J, from Australia for smuggling a new kind of drug named 'spice,' (JWH-018) in contravention of the drug control law.

According to prosecutors, J has been charged for smuggling 24 grams of spice through international mail on two occasions between June and October this year.

The pharmacological effects of spice are five times stronger than marijuana and can continue for up to 6 hours, and recently it's come to light that it is spreading in Korea in places like clubs.

J, who dropped out of high school, married a Korean studying in Australia last year and came to Korea, and then easily got a university diploma from an online diploma mill and used it to get a job working as a native speaking instructor at a hagwon in Ilsan, investigators found.

A prosecution official said, "In October when he was hired as a foreign instructor by the hagwon, he had a health check which included a drug and marijuana test, but there is concern that it did not work properly as a filter as it did not show that he had taken this new kind of drug."

"I'll mail myself some spice through the mail! They'll never know!" Nice one, J.

The Segye Ilbo adds that Incheon Airport Customs intercepted the most recent package and he was arrested at the motel in Seoul's Seongdong-gu listed as the receiving address. A prosecution official also adds that there's concern he spread it to students or people at the motel, so there are plans to expand the investigation.

Newsis, in an article titled, "Native speaking instructor caught trying to smuggle JWH-018, a new kind of drug stronger than methamphetamine," assures us that "JWH-018, which was developed as an air freshener but abused as a narcotic, is a synthetic drug stronger than methamphetamine." Keep that in mind the next time someone here asks you if you've ever tried marijuana or heroin. The 'author' of the article also apparently decided it would be better to make him a middle school dropout, rather than a high school dropout.

I really don't know the first thing about synthetic marijuana and its effects compared to the real thing, but Wikipedia tells us that the binding affinity for the CB1 receptor for THC is K_i = 40.7±1.7 nm, as compared to JWH-018, which is K_i = 9.00±5.00 nm. And no, I don't know what that means either. According to this site:

The simple explanation is [...]:
"In simple terms, a lower Ki == a greater affinity."
The greater the affinity the more potent the chemical (kind of):
"Molecules with higher affinities for target proteins usually require lower doses(/concentrations)."
So the lower the Ki value generally means a smaller dose will be required. It doesn't translate 100% because there's a lot more involved then just the receptor and the chemical but it's still a useful indicator.

So it would seem JWH-018 is stronger than THC, but it's not clear by how much. To be sure, saying that it's 'stronger than methamphetamine' is pretty pointless - on the one hand, it's kind of like comparing apples and comets; on the other, the comparative strength or weakness of an intoxicating substance usually determines how much is consumed. Drinking three bottles of beer won't raise any eyebrows, but drinking three bottles of soju will.

One other thing: we know he had to take a drug test, but that doesn't necessarily mean he was on an E-2 visa; according to an amendment to the hagwon law passed in August, native speakers working in hagwons must submit drug tests and criminal record checks. I don't know if that applies to F-visa teachers or not, and still have no clue if it will or not because his visa status isn't mentioned.

Checking test scores

Apparently the girls in the corner really, really, didn't want anyone to see their CSAT marks.


From here; it was taken on the 30th in Gwangju. More photos and articles about the test results being released are here.

Tear gas and prisonbots

The Joongang Ilbo had an interesting article about the history of the tear gas canister set off in the National Assembly during the FTA vote last week by DLP Rep. Kim Sun-dong:

How Kim got his hands on the tear gas canister remains to be answered, as he refused to disclose the source. Debris collected by GNP Representative Cha Myung-jin after the melee helped identify the model. The detonator was marked with the model number SY-44, which was popular with riot police suppressing antidictator demonstrations in the 1970s and 80s.

The SY-44 model tear gas canister has a notorious history in Korea. During an antidictatorship demonstration on June 9, 1987, Yonsei student Lee Han-yeol was hit on the back of his head with an SY-44 and suffered a fatal injury. Lee died on July 5, 1987, and became one of the pro-democracy movement’s martyrs and rallying figures.

It’s not confirmed that Kim used an SY-44, as the police and the manufacturer raised the possibility that his canister could have been illegally modified. The National Police Agency and Samyang Chemical said the SY-44 canisters used by police have a larger diameter than Kim’s.

A police official said yesterday that the police discontinued using the SY-44 model in the 1990s. There are 278 units stored in the police armory, and all of them are to be disposed of next year, the official said, dismissing speculation that Kim’s canister could have come from the police.

Another official said Kim could have kept it from his days as a student activist in the 1980s. The canister used by Kim had the serial number 85E805, indicating that it was produced in 1985, the source said. Kim may have kept a dud canister from a demonstration, he said.

Others have pointed out the irony of a former student activist using a riot police weapon. Just for reference, here's a video of the incident, and of Kim being dragged from the building:



For an interesting comment placing the events in the national assembly in context, see here. Meanwhile, Korea Beat reports that Kim may not face punishment for the incident.

Not that we would expect him to face jail time, but if he did he might run into the new robots which are being deployed to select prisons in a trial program to "patrol jail corridors" at night, "lifting the burden off human prison guards." One hopes they don't get mixed up with the ones deployed to classrooms to replace possible criminals.

(From here)

As we see above, though the children responded quickly enough to the command, "Hands up," his next command ("remove all box cutters from your pencil cases and bring them up to the front one at a time") resulted in chaos, which the robot unfortunately resolved by unveiling its 50 caliber machine gun and mowing down the class.

Free screening of 63 Years On

I was asked to pass on this information:

The House of Sharing’s International Outreach Team will hold a FREE Documentary screening of “63 Years On”, the story of ‘Comfort women’ at Jogyesa Temple Theatre on Sunday, December 4th 2011. The film is in multiple languages with English subtitles. There will be an introductory speaker and group discussion after the film.

Date: Sunday December 4th, 2011 Time: 2:00pm – 4:00pm Film duration: 63 min.
Where: Jogyesa Temple Theatre
Jogyesa Temple is located in Jongno, on the street behind Insa-dong. You can walk there in a short time from Jonggak Station, or it's also accessible from Anguk Station (Exit 6).

From Anguk station Exit 6, walk straight & pass the main street to Insadong. Cross the street to reach the temple structure in front of you. The theatre is in the new museum building behind the main temple structure.

Info: www.houseofsharing.org
Email: info@houseofsharing.org

This is an opportunity for both the Korean and International communities to further engage with the ‘Comfort women’ issue and to support the continuing fight for justice. A brief Question & Answer session will take place after the film, an opportunity for those who wish to share their thoughts on the film and ask any questions to members of the House of Sharing’s International Outreach Team.

In this film, award-winning Korean director Kim Dong Won presents the harrowing experiences of 5 international survivors of Japanese Military Sexual Slavery during World War II. The very personal telling of their experiences is supported by excellent research and archival footage to create a powerfully honest, determined, and often heartbreaking documentary.

I still have yet to see this, but other films I've seen by Kim Dong Won have been well worth watching.

Weird

I think I may have posted this before, but I missed it when posting my collection of English teacher cartoons. On February 19, 2010, the Donga Ilbo published an article which wasn't about foreign teachers at all (it mentions the native speaker way of thinking when studying English), but which included this bizarre cartoon:

"Correct expression", "accurate pronunciation"
(note that the artist also did this classic cartoon)

Absolutely bizarre. It certainly wins the 'big nose cartoon' contest. It would make a great t-shirt, though.

Korean teachers preferred over native speakers

[Update:
Brian writes about this as well, and links to articles in English by Korea Times and Hankyoreh. The Chosun Ilbo has it in English here.

This GEPIK questionnaire for parents regarding foreign teachers is worth looking at as well.]

[Original post]

Yesterday Yonhap published the following article:

Korean students prefer Korean teachers for English education

Satisfaction in regard to native speaking teacher classes is high

Results of research by Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education into the realities of English education staff.


Satisfaction with native speaker English education in schools is high, but a survey has found that many think that in the long term, Korean teachers should teach English.

According to the results of the "Study analyzing the results of the Seoul English education strengthening policy and development plan" released by SMOE on the 27th, parents, students and teachers are satisfied with current native speaking teachers but the opinion came out that in the medium and long term Korean English teachers with English ability should be responsible for school English education.

The study was based on interviews with or online surveys by 28,761 students enrolled in 1,282 elementary, middle and high schools in Seoul, 11,980 parents, 2,406 English teachers, and 595 native speaking English assistant teachers, among others.

The survey found that 54.2% of parents thought that native speaking English assistant teachers helped their children improve their English skills.

The number of parents who were 'satisfied' with Korean English teachers' classes stopped at 39%. The reason for this was 'lack of English skills' (35.8%), lack of enthusiasm for class' (20.2%), and because 'students did not understand' (16.6 percent).

Among students as well, the number of those satisfied with the native speaking English teacher's class (60.0%) was slightly higher compared to Korean English teachers (55.3%).

However, when asked about what category of English teacher was most desirable, the most common choice among parents (62.2%) was "a Korean teacher with excellent English conversation ability who is good at teaching."

This was followed by "native speaking English assistant teachers" (26.9%) and "Korean Teachers who lack English conversation skills, but who are good at teaching (11.0%), which can be construed as a preference for Korean teachers as long as their English ability is sufficient.

Students as well chose "Korean teachers with excellent English conversation ability who is good at teaching" (53.7%) over "native speaking English assistant teachers" (29.7%).

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

As for the opinion of Korean teachers in regard to native speaking English assistant teachers, they answered that they contributed to the improvement of students' English ability and confidence, but pointed out that there was difficulty managing co-teaching classes and level/graded classes (? 수준별 수업) with native speaking teachers.

As for their difficulties at school, native speaking English assistant teachers counted "Korean teachers lack 'know how' in regard to classroom management" (27.0%) the most, followed by "Korean teachers who are not familiar with co-planning lessons" (18.8%) and "lack of mutual understanding based on cultural differences" (14.3%).

This was reported by several other news outlets:

Newsis: 90% of native speakers say "Students' ability improves in my class"; but students prefer Korean teachers to native speakers.

Money Today: Half of students say "We can't interact with the native speaking teacher."

Financial News: "In the long term, it's better that Korean teachers teach English"

Asia Today: For English education in schools there is a preference for excellent Korean English teachers.

Money Today: Students-Parents: "Satisfied with Seoul public school English education"

Kukmin Ilbo: More than half of students and parents in Seoul prefer 'Korean teachers' over native speakers

Segye Ilbo: More participation by students in English class, increase Korean teachers

Hankyoreh: Native speakers are unconditionally the best in English education? "Korean teachers with excellent ability are preferable."

Financial News: "It's preferable that Korean English teachers with ability should teach."

Seoul Sinmun: "Preference for Korean teachers over native speaking teachers."

Asia Gyeongje: SMOE: "Reduce native speaking teachers and foster Korean English teachers."

EBS: "Korean English teachers more desirable than native speakers."


It's nice to see Newsis having some fun with their title. I'd be curious to see more of the actual questions/possible choices for answers on this survey. That people would prefer, in the long run, to have Korean teachers teaching English instead of importing foreign teachers is a bit of a no-brainer, really. Who would disagree with that statement? No one was ever planning to keep hiring foreign teachers in public schools into the 22nd century.

It's interesting that there is opposition to the idea of reducing native speaking assistant teachers by parents, according to the survey. Last week, Park Dong-u, a councilor on the Gyeonggi Provincial Council (which oversaw the budget cut that left GEPIK in limbo) said at a council meeting on next year's education budget that native speaking teachers should be reduced each year beginning in the cities, because one can be exposed to more English in the cities as opposed to rural farming communities. As they are reduced, guidance counsellors should be increased.

In related news, 50 schools (half of them elementary schools) in Gyeonggi are implementing remote video lectures by native speakers for schools in rural areas, and are holding workshops for teachers from these schools in Bucheon and Ansan today and tomorrow.

The gossip columnist from a hundred years ago

Tonight's Royal Asiatic Society lecture will feature Robert Neff and is titled "Scandals and gossip from Joseon Korea’s past." Having heard a few of the stories before, I'm sure it will be interesting:

In the 1890s and early 1900s, the Western community in Korea was quite small and consisted mainly of American missionaries, advisors and diplomats – all very highly respectable men and women. But even admirable people have their secrets and faults.

Some of these faults included alcoholism and gambling, among other things:

And, of course, sex also played a key role in scandals and gossip. Secret romances, troubles involving mistresses, babies born out of wedlock and even alleged sexual assaults. Perhaps even more shocking were the acts of infidelity including those committed by the British representative’s promiscuous wife.

More details can be found here. The lecture will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the Residents' Lounge on the 2nd floor of the Somerset Palace in Seoul, which is north of (and behind) Jogyesa Temple, and is 5,000 won for non-member and free for members.

Uncontrollable 'yougle,' and other tales of drugs and crime

[Edit: I added the one other drug arrest of 2011 which occurred after this post went up, so this now covers all of the 2011 reports tying foreign teachers to drugs.]

On August 15, 2011, the Chosun Ilbo published this report:

Drugs are entering through Yougle (Youtube + Google)
The age of ordering through Google and learning about growing from Youtube

Earlier this year, police police learned that R, who had worked until last year as a native speaking English instructor at an elementary school in Seoul's Gwanak-gu, had smoked the new kind of drug 'JWH-018 (known as spice)' several times and launched an investigation.

Using the world's largest portal, 'Google,' R accessed a drug selling website to investigate how to import drugs into Korea. Using Google, one can access a drug selling site by entering a simple query, and by entering a name and address and paying with a credit card, one can easily get a hold of drugs.

Police in Seoul's Guro-gu learned that T, who worked at an elementary school as a native speaking instructor until last year, imported drugs through the same method, and are currently investigating. T's acquaintance, who tipped police off about him, said, "T 'ordered through Google' and showed me a bag of marijuana that had been delivered through international mail." R ordered drugs in a similar manner using a site found through Google. Both of them fled the country before the police investigation began to kick into gear.

The world's largest video site, 'Youtube,' has also been utilized as a drug route. Last month police arrested Mr. Seo (23), who had studied overseas, for growing and distributing marijuana after learning how to grow it by searching on Youtube. The video he watched was easily accessible from Korea by entering only a few drug-related words. Police revealed that Mr. Seo used Google to order marijuana seeds and have them sent to him.

As it easy to use Google and Youtube in this way with no particular restrictions to import drugs, among police officers on the front line of drug crackdowns it's being said "Drugs are entering through Yougle (Youtube + Google)."

Police understand the facts about how 'Yougle' is used to order drugs, but are struggling to find solutions and control methods. Most of the drug selling sites which appear in Google's search results are based overseas and there is no special member registration or need to enter a resident registration number.

According to the report "Analysis of trends in drug smuggling arrests for 2010" released by Customs in January, the number of arrests for drug smuggling via international mail increased 53% over 2009 with 67 cases, while use of courier increased 44% with 13 cases. Most were purchased over the internet. A Customs official said, "We use x-rays and sniffer dogs for customs inspections, but with tens of thousands of goods every day, it's difficult to check them all."

I only noticed this article after reading about it on Anti-English Spectrum. In fact, they've added it to their list of accomplishments (first result):

20110815
Made successful an article in the Chosun Ilbo related to native speaking instructors distributing and using new kinds of drugs
"Drugs are entering through Yougle (Youtube + Google)"
Notified the nation of native speaking instructors using youtube and google to spread new kinds of drugs
Reported 20 drug distributing sites to authorities

It's nice to see the Chosun Ilbo getting another stamp on its 'frequent article about AES' card. Once again this year we have a story of "former" foreign English teachers involved with drugs (or, in this case, foreigners "who had worked until last year" as teachers). I could only find one other case (from last year) mentioning a former teacher in connection with drugs. Including the two teachers mentioned above (who were allegedly investigated), there have been three or four 'former teachers' connected with drugs this year - out of a total of 11 foreign teachers in the news regarding drugs (9 who were arrested).

Compared to the 34-38 mentioned in the media last year as being arrested (up until late July, after which there weren't any arrests reported for nine months), it's quite a drop.

Here are other articles mentioning foreign teachers and drugs this year so far:

2011.01.30 Korean Customs service announces 2010 drug seizure stats. Of 200 arrests, 95 were foreigners, and among those, 28 were foreign native speaking teachers, "29.4% of the total number of foreigners arrested," (or 14% of the total). While over-represented in this category, foreign teachers weren't, as the the Kookmin Ilbo put it in the title of one article, "The main culprits in drug smuggling."

2011.02.07 Several media outlets report on new drug testing regulations for foreign teachers, which are meant to catch "test-savvy drug users" who "avoid being caught." According to an immigration official quoted in a Donga Ilbo article, "Incidents of some native speaking instructors taking drugs during lectures have been never ending and this is to block this from happening in advance."

2011.02.23 After reports on the suicide of a foreign teacher in Busan are followed by an article in the Busan Ilbo painting him as an alcoholic, the same paper publishes an editorial stating that "One can only be aghast" that a suicidal drunk was teaching children, going on to say "Criminal acts and various scandals by native speaking teachers are nothing new. The various crimes that we know of up to now include assault, child molestation, sexual assault and, of course, taking and selling drugs. " It also asserts that "the current employment health exam cannot also determine drug or alcohol addiction."

2011.04.12 Doctor's News reports on a hospital chosen to administer new drug tests which will "distinguish whether a foreign English teacher is a drug addict or alcoholic." The article complains about foreign instructors who do not have legal visas who have "caused incidents which have led to social criticism" and then says that in order to determine whether these illegal teachers are alcoholics or drug addicts, more stringent tests have been developed for the... legal teachers.

2011.04.22 A British hagwon English instructor in Incheon is busted for importing 6.5 grams of synthetic marijuana (JWH-250) and marijuana seeds and growing marijuana in his home. This is the first reported drug bust involving a foreign English teacher in nine months.

2011.05.03 The Gyeongin Ilbo reports that a new bill will make foreign teachers working for hagwons have to take drug checks and all teachers (including Koreans) will have to have criminal record checks, among several other provisions. The title of the article? "'Expel' drug addicted, molesting foreign instructors."

2011.05.04 Yonhap reports on a meth bust involving a South African drug mule and a Nigerian in Korea who worked variously as a factory worker, clothing seller, and illegal English teacher, and chooses the title "Former native speaking instructor caught smuggling philopon." A police official is quoted saying "This is the first time that a native speaking instructor has tried to smuggle a large amount of philipon, rather than marijuana," ignoring the fact that Nigerians are usually not included in the immigration defined "native speaker" category in Korea. YTN follows this up later in the day with a report titled "Native speaking teacher arrested for smuggling large amount of Philipon," which effectively erases the South African (the actual smuggler) from the story to focus on the Nigerian who "worked as a native speaking English instructor." This is similar to a series of stories Yonhap and YTN published in 2009.

2011.06.15 The Maeil Gyeongje reports that Incheon Police booked without detention Korean American English instructor for taking philopon at a motel he was staying at. It quotes police who say that "[i]t is estimated that there are a good many foreign instructors working in Korea who have not had their qualifications verified." "We are expanding an investigation against them for drugs and various crimes."

2011.07.13 Medical Today reported about the availability of new kinds of drugs to children. One paragraph reads:

Section chief Yun Heung-hui explained that "The recent increase in new kinds of drugs has been greatly influenced by foreign instructors and young people who spent their childhood years studying abroad." "This is because sometimes they take the drugs they used abroad like yaba or ecstasy to Korea and spread it among their peers."

We'll see that section chief again.

2011.07.20 NoCut News reports in an article titled "From housewives to English instructors... Drug ring arrested for selling and using" that a Mr. Hong was caught after smuggling 2.2 billion won worth of meth into the country from China by using a freighter, and that "Among the 17 users who were caught were a former university instructor and native speaking instructor, a taxi driver and a housewife." It's not clear from the sentence if "former" includes the native speaking instructor or not.

2011.07.22 Yonhap report on drug busts in Busan, noting that American English hagwon teacher P (30) stood accused of smuggling 3.58 grams of marijuana from the US through international mail on February 5.

Also, three Korean Canadian English hagwon instructors including a Ms Park (22) were charged with smuggling 2.84 grams of ketamine through international mail in April or May and taking it ten times at clubs in Seoul and Busan. Busan MBC reported on September 11 that they were found guilty (though the substance changed to philopon/meth) and sentenced to 6-10 months suspended for 1-5 years.

2011.08.19 Asia Today published an article excerpted below:

[Republic of Korea, stoned] 3. The world's drug distribution hub, Korea
As native speaking instructors and foreign workers increase, there is an impact on the expansion of drugs [...]

As we greet the global era, foreign tourists and foreign workers increase, and due to an overheated English education boom, there is an increasing influx of foreign students and native speaking instructors who are having a large influence.[...]

As the number of foreigners living in Korea gradually increases, surpassing 1.26 million in 2010, the number and frequency of drug crimes by Chinese, Russian sailors, southeast Asian workers from places like Sri Lanka or Thailand and native speaking teachers from English speaking countries like the US or Canada is increasing, and drugs are expanding.

The United States, Canada, and Africa are the main countries from which marijuana is smuggled and it is mostly hagwon instructors from English-speaking countries who are responsible for much of the small-scale smuggling cases. [...]

The kinds of drugs that are smuggled include not only methamphetamine, but also various drugs such as ecstasy, YABA (a synthetic drug), kratom (a stimulant), benzyl-piperazine (a stimulant made from a pesticide raw material), JWH-018 (synthetic marijuana), and ketamine (a sedative), brought into Korea via various routes by international students/those who have studied overseas, foreign hagwon instructors, and ethnic Koreans from China.

It's nice to see Asia Today refraining from engaging in hyperbole ("The world's drug distribution hub, Korea" ??).

2011.08.23 Seoul Sinmun publishes an article titled "[Exclusive] Teens exposure to drugs, drug crimes increase, sex crimes also more serious," which includes a statement from the previously quoted section chief:

In regard to the increase in youth drug crime, Yun Heung-hui , Chief of Dongdaemun Police Station's violent crimes division, said "With the increase in the inflow of drugs via students who study abroad and foreign instructors, youths easily learn about drugs in the areas around Itaewon clubs." "These days things like hemp cookies and ecstasy pills are prevalent." Cases of young people inhaling butane gas or glue to get high have almost disappeared. Section chief Yun emphasized that, "It is necessary for school health education to actively make them aware of the dangers of drugs."

This same paragraph appears in an article published the next day titled "Our children exchange pencils...for drugs; Youth drug crimes increase by 4 times in 4 years," which includes this graphic:

(Drug crimes among youth aged 12-19)

(I suppose it's never too late to simply drug test every child in Korea.)

2011.09.11 Busan MBC, NoCut News and Yonhap report that the three Canadian gyopos whose arrest was announced in July (for Ketamine) were found guilty of importing and using philopon/meth and sentenced to 6-10 months suspended for 1-5 years. Yonhap provided the following photo:

It's just a file photo, however (one of two in the article), as one might guess from their clothes (not something one would wear being arrested in July!).

2011.09.16 KBS, in a news report titled "The new drug 'spice' spreads among young people... crackdown difficult" reports about a Korean dance teacher who was arrested for spice, who got it from someone in the US military. It also mentions the busts of US soldiers in Itaewon in July for selling spice, and then finishes with this statement:

Police, working with US military investigative agencies, are expanding their investigation into new kinds of drugs to target US soldiers and civilian workers as well as foreign instructors.

I guess now is not the time to mention that there have been only three cases reported in the media connecting foreign teachers with spice in the last two years.

2011.09.19 National assembly representative Park Young-a calls for stricter recruitment standards for foreign teachers after a teacher was rehired after failing a drug test - ignoring the fact that it was the lack of strict enforcement of existing standards (not the lack of standards) that was responsible for the teacher being rehired (due to a successful retest based on a claim that the first result was a false positive).

2011.10.02 A comparison between two Kukmin Ilbo articles that were published at the same time looking at 'unregistered' Korean and foreign hagwon instructors, in which the foreign teachers are portrayed as potential threats due to "never ending" "drugs and molestation." Job and Consulting is also used as a source (previously seen here: 1,2,3,4).

2011.11.07 Busan Ilbo reports that a Canadian teacher was arrested for taking a 'new kind' of drug - hashish. Yonhap then follows up a 'just the facts' article on this bust by reporting that Ulsan's reputation is hurt by fat, lazy, argumentative foreign teachers.

2011.12.04 Yonhap reports about an arrest with the headline "Native speaking instructor smuggles 'spice' which is 5 times more powerful than marijuana," and notes that the Australian who was arrested passed an earlier drug test.

2011.12.17 NoCut News reports on the previous reported arrest, refers to the "continuous crimes such as taking, distributing or importing drugs by foreign instructors like these," and argues that the newly amended Hagwon Law was not being followed. They state that "Foreign instructors should be hired after confirming a drug test but this has not been implemented," and that this is a threat to children which worries parents.

So out of a good many instances of foreign teachers being linked to drugs in the media this year, only a handful of cases involved actual arrests for drug possession or smuggling (9 arrested in 6 cases, if the Nigerian meth smuggler who taught English illegally is left out). I'm not sure what the relation is between reported cases and actual arrest statistics - it might be useful to review statistics going back to 2006 or so to find out. At any rate, if they are connected, then it looks like there may be a drop in the number of cases involving foreign teachers (so far) this year - which would certainly be a good thing. The odd thing, however, is that 5 of the 9 arrests were for meth, while three were for marijuana and one was for spice, which is certainly not how drug arrests for foreign teachers generally play out.

G'old Korean Vinyl

Do check out G'old Korean Vinyl if you're into Korean music from the 70s and 80s - they provide downloadable songs at the site of rare songs from that time period. In addition, on November 26 @ Fabric in Busan they're holding a party:

G’OLD (Good Old) is a party featuring several hours of rare, vintage Korean tracks alongside all types of indie and dance music. We have been given access to a massive library of out-of-print Korean vinyl and are picking out the best Garage, Soul, Disco, Pop, Psyche and Synth from 1950-89 Korea. We will be showcasing these crazy, awesome gems at a series of parties. The party will feature rare Korean music finds from our archives as well as indie, dance and alternative sounds. Curated by Super Color Super & Gopchang Jeongol.

Gopchang Jeongol, if you don't know it, is in Hongdae (near Sanullim theatre) and is a fun place to hang out, full of tons and tons of classic LPs.
(Hat tip to Mark Russell)

On the classic front, the Seoul Sinmun has photos of dancer Choi Seung-hui to celebrate the 100th anniversary of her birth; I've posted about her before. I hadn't known until I read The Cleanest Race that she performed for Hitler.

Bits and pieces

The Joongang Ilbo interviewed Professor Lee Chong-sik, likely best known for co-authoring the book “Communism in Korea,” with Robert Scalapino. In the interview he talks about the trilateral meeting held in London from Sept. 12 to Oct. 2, 1945:

[R]elations between the United States and the Soviets deteriorated after the London conference. Before that, they were on lukewarm terms .?.?. but their ties froze up in London. We could describe this as the de facto onset of the cold war. [...]

The Soviets wanted the northern part of Hokkaido in Japan after the war, but the United States refused to agree. But what really enraged Russia was the refusal by the U.K. and the U.S. of its demand to take over Tripoli in Libya. The records of the London Conference show that then-Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov asserted Russia’s need for a port in the Mediterranean for its commercial vessels. He said it was for the country’s commercial vessels, but evidently the Soviet Navy wanted to have a base through which to expand its forces around the world. [...]

After Molotov disputed the port issue with his U.S. and British counterparts on Sept. 15-16, Soviet policies regarding the Korean Peninsula and China were completely changed. On Sept. 20, Stalin made a secret order to set up a “democratic government” in North Korea.

The article is titled "Revisiting Stalin’s role as Peninsula’s puppeteer." Some might object to such an idea, since Jeju 4.3 took place when Korea was under US control and the UK apparently helped design Japanese Zeros (hint for those wanting to put the UK in the 1등급 victimizer-of-Korea range - a search for 'Anglo-Japanese Treaty' might be more fruitful) (see more here). On a note related to the Joongang Ilbo's interview, this article has a great deal of information about how Korea came to be divided into zones of occupation by the USSR and US.

Also in the Joongang, in its [GLIMPSE of KOREAN CULTURE] series, is an article about the Yakult ajumma.

Korea Yakult first started with 47 saleswomen in 1971 but the number of saleswomen has jumped to 13,000 in the first half of this year, according to Korea Yakult. [...] The company said the average age of a Yakult ajumma is 44.3 years old and their monthly income is about 1.7 million won. They walk around 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) on average per day.

If there's one kind of food I can count on to be better in Korea than back home, it's yogurt.

Another article in the series looks at marriage officiants (Jurye); I hadn't realized that such a wide range of people could officiate at weddings until a friend who is a high school teacher told me he was going to do so for a former student. Which is kind of neat.

And the KT looks at a documentary (and photo book, etc) about stray cats. I used to have a lot around my old place (in a villa). In fact, I came home one night to see a dozen cats at the end of the alley where the gate to my place was. They scattered pretty quickly, which I imagine disrupted their planning session for the takeover of the neighbourhood from the humans.

And I'm no Picasso brought up Korean poetry in translation yesterday, so there are lots of links and suggestions in regard to reading material in the comments.