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.

Parents tremble at 'pleasure parties' thrown by foreign instructors

Ilyo Seoul, who in March 2010 published a creative writing assignment titled "The Seriousness of Foreign Teachers’ Ugly Double Lives Cannot Be Measured", offered readers a new and wonderful follow up on December 23 (Merry Christmas!).

The truth about the 'pleasure parties' thrown by foreign instructors
Parents tremble inside

▲ This photo is not related to the article

Last summer, American foreign instructor H (24) was booked without detention for assaulting and choking a middle aged man on a bus. While H was speaking loudly with others, a middle aged man told him to shut up in English and was assaulted. For this reason, public opinion buzzed as demands for verified foreign native speaking instructors were made, but with no particular solution it soon died down.

However, on December 2, the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office, arrested A (23), an Australian native speaking English instructor, for smuggling J(trillion)-018 called 'Spice,' it was announced on the 5th.

With the domestic situation in confusion, this problem has not been greatly highlighted, however parents who send their children to hagwons with foreign native speaking instructors have once again had to bury their feelings.

As the demand for native speaking instructors continues to grow, the number of foreign instructors teaching foreign languages grows as well. However, with this increase in demand, the number of problems caused by some unverified foreign native speaking instructors grows day by day. We will examine this.

At a street full of hagwons near Mok-dong Station before 10pm lines of cars wait for students. On rainy weekends in the evening one or two lanes of the street become a parking lot. It's a queue of parents waiting for their children.

This occasionally ties up traffic, but but there is no particular reaction from most of the residents who live here because most have had the same experience.

One can often see foreign native speaking instructors around the Mok-dong hagwon area. Of course, it's not just here, but in any big city across the country one can see foreign native speaking instructors without much difficulty.

However parents carry anxiety with them in a corner of their hearts. Sometimes when they hear of an incident involving drugs or assault by native speaking instructors reported in the news parents cannot conceal their worry that it might be [their child's teacher].

The deviation and illegal acts of some native speaking instructors

In fact, on December 6 I met two native speaking instructors on the subway who were drunk. Luckily it was not crowded, but they had a loud conversation with each other not caring about the others around them.

As no one was restraining their behaviour, this reporter requested, "This is a public place, please be quiet," and after looking around they wore an apologetic expression. Their voices also quickly became quiet.

It just so happened that they got off at the same stop and we walked in the same direction transferring to another line. Getting up the courage, I asked after them.

Brendan (30) was a tall Australian and native speaking instructor, and Osborn (29) was a short American.

After a short conversation with them I arranged a time to meet for an interview.

Both of them really liked Korea and said they were very embarrassed about illegal activities of some native speaking instructors.

However they hoped it was recognized that some were a little distorted.

Brandon explained that, "In truth, very few native speaking instructors commit illegal acts, but if you look at what has happened, there are many cases of it being due to misunderstandings caused by not being able to communicate or cultural differences.

Osborn complained that "You can see that things that are not [illegal at home] are illegal in Korea, and I hope we can all recognize these differences."

There are 'pleasure parties' but they are not well known.

In June 2009, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Drug investigation unit caught 84 people including foreign instructors, university students, famous entertainers, and adult entertainment workers. They were charged with habitually taking and dealing drugs in Yeoksam and Cheongdam-dong area clubs.

Over 80 people were caught by police, but a big stir was caused by the knowledge that foreign instructors and Koreans who had studied in foreign countries had secretly brought drugs into the country.

After this, the government intensified its crackdown, and following this many of the so-called "wild parties" disappeared.

However wild parties are still taking place secretly, the two teachers told me. Of course, they never attended the parties themselves, but sometimes when socializing with other foreign instructors or foreign students in Hongdae or Itaewon they hear talk of these parties.

The two said there are problematic things about these secret parties which are sometimes thrown. However they don't know the details of the parties attended by a very secret minority.

On the other hand, most parties are not problematic and see the gathering of people who share a similar culture and who drink, chat and dance through the night, they explained.

There are cases where people get so drunk that they lose their senses and start arguments or use violence, but these people are also in the minority. In particular, Koreans find it difficult to understand foreigners who are a little more sexually open and can see them as being promiscuous, but they are all not like that, they explained.

Osborne said, "Among foreign instructors there are also people who have caused minor problems in their home countries. However there are never problems related to teaching children. People like that could not come to Korea."

He also said, "The reasons for coming to Korea are all different, but in my own way I feel pride as a person who teaches a foreign language here and gives children a chance to learn a language."

There is a need to make mandatory confirmation that one has an E-2 visa.

Last August people were shocked when Mr. Kim (38), who was a gangster in the US who was deported to Korea after serving a 10 year sentence obtained a fake degree on the internet and was hired as a native speaking instructor.

Ultimately while demand for native speaking instructors explosively increases, the biggest problem is that of hagwons hiring instructors who have not been properly verified, but in fact the fundamental problem is that there are few ways to verify the backgrounds of foreigners.

So how does one distinguish good foreign instructors from bad?

Currently there are approximately 25,000 native speaking instructors working in Korea. In order to work a native speaking instructor, they must be issued an E-2 visa.

In order to receive an E-2 visa from the ministry of justice, they must submit a criminal background check and health verification, as well as go through a consular interview. As well they have continuous in-depth verification such as blood tests to confirm whether they take drugs.

In the end, a hagwon which plans to hire a native speaking instructor absolutely needs to confirm that they have an E-2 visa. As well, parents need to investigate to see if the hagwon has verified the person through the ministry of justice.

Brandon, who teaches elementary school students, said, "Every time illegal activity by native speaking instructors emerges, parents look at us with fierce eyes." "But it would be good for them to know that most instructors come to Korea through a legitimate process.

Osborne said, "I feel bad that [teachers] are treated like lawbreakers because some cause problems like secretly throwing wild parties. However it would be good for native speaking instructors to know for certain that these acts are clearly problematic."

I love the 'unrelated' photo at the top of the article.

So let's see... the article brings up several cases from over the past few months, and seems to feel bad that one case "soon died down" (hence the need for this article, perhaps). Lamenting that "parents who send their children to hagwons with foreign native speaking instructors have once again had to bury their feelings," it states that "parents carry anxiety with them in a corner of their hearts." I'd tend to think the purpose of that statement is to be prescriptive more than descriptive.

The reporter then bumps into two (drunk, of course!) foreign teachers on the subway and stands up to their noise, shames them into being quiet, and then happens to be getting off at the same spot and asks for an interview. After a chat about conflicts caused by cultural differences, they reveal the "wild parties are still taking place secretly," but don't know much about them as they are attended by a "secret minority." This is reminiscent of the party that turned Koreans against foreign teachers during the English Spectrum incident in 2005 (an incident I plan to revisit before long), a party so secret there was an advertisement for it up on the internet beforehand, as well as plastered on the wall of the bar itself:

When photos of it (some of which are here) were found at English Spectrum (its Ask The Playboy forum organized the party), netizens frothed at the mouth in anger and formed the 'Anti' cafe that's still with us today. It's this party the article is drawing on when referring to 'secret parties,' but instead, it tells us that in June, 2009, police arrested Yeoksam and Cheongdam-dong area clubgoers for taking drugs, and that

[o]ver 80 people were caught by police, but a big stir was caused by the knowledge that foreign instructors and Koreans who had studied in foreign countries had secretly brought drugs into the country.

Much like Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, but the big stir was caused by Winston Churchill being hung over that day. Hey, I can rewrite history, too!

The busts referred to above were reported on June 3, 2009, but it was the entertainers who were arrested which drew the most attention, with the media even revealing at least one of their names. That's not to say no attention was paid to the small number of foreign teachers involved.

Newsis reported that entertainer(s), native speaking teacher(s) and university student(s) were charged with smuggling and taking drugs, as did Yonhap. Another report said native speaking teachers/ instructors were arrested, while the Munhwa Ilbo wrote the most about the foreign instructor busts, saying that four native speaking instructors were arrested, giving details on one who smuggled 150 ecstasy pills from Canada for 2 million won and sold them for 80,000 won a pop in Itaewon and Gangnam clubs.

At almost the same time, photos of (mostly Korean) clubgoers at a club in Chungdam-dong were reported by Yonhap to be causing a scandal online. What was amusing is that, though only 4 or 5 photos of the 140 posted had foreigners in them, I still managed to find a Korean blog post at the time which railed against 'foreign teacher bastards with Korean women' (no complaints about the Korean guy posing with a white woman) - talk about ignoring the forest to look at the trees.

I also enjoyed the article explaining that "a hagwon which plans to hire a native speaking instructor absolutely needs to confirm that they have an E-2 visa." They also might want to confirm that they have sponsored that E-2 visa.

At any rate, the article has at least served one purpose - via this translation it lets foreign English teachers who read it "know for certain that [secretly throwing wild parties is] clearly problematic." Remember - you need to advertise your wild pleasure parties!

Books more satisfying than native speakers

Yonhap posted this article on January 23:

"For English conversation education, reading an English book has a higher level of satisfaction than the native speaker's class"

Yun Sunsaengnim English Classroom parent survey

Parents with elementary school-aged children prefer native speaker English classes over reading English books when it comes to English conversation education, but the method that brings true satisfaction is reading an English book, survey results found.

On the 23rd, Yun Sunsaengnim English Classroom announced that according to a survey of 646 parents of elementary school children held between December 28 and January 5, 53.9% answered "I prefer my children to learn English conversation in a native speaker English class," while 46.1% chose "I prefer they read an English book every day."

As to the reason for choosing the native speaker English class (multiple answers), 62.6% chose "Children are not afraid when talking with native speakers," 33.9% chose "Pronunciation is checked," and 31.9% chose "Communication skills seem to improve in a short period of time."

The reasons for preferring that they read an English book every day included "They can read for themselves and direct their own learning" (41.9%), "Through various English books they can build up their general knowledge" (40.9%), and "They can learn English at little cost" (40.3 percent).

However, asking their real satisfaction, English book reading education got an average of 3.9 points (out of 5), which was higher than for native speaker English class (an average of 3.1 points). The percentage answering that they were satisfied was 67.5% for reading English books, which was much higher than the 30.4% who chose native speaker English lessons.

As for their method of reading English books, (multiple answers), 61.8% chose 'reading along with audiobooks,' 40.7% chose 'talking about the content after understanding the general meaning,' 15.7% chose "looking up the words and carefully reading,' and 8.2% chose 'reading the English book and writing a report.'

Yun Sunsaengnim English Classroom senior researcher Won Yong-guk said, "It's good for those in an environment like Korea with non-native English speakers to continually read English books to improve their English language skills." "Practical English language skills can be improved based on reading skills."

Yun Sunsaengnim English Classroom is a company which sends (Korean) English instructors to students' homes to tutor them using books that it provides. People I've known who have worked for the company tell me the whole point to is finish the books on schedule and sell as many books as possible. So no one will be shocked that though parents preferred native speakers, its survey found that their "real satisfaction" is found in books (though we're not told how such satisfaction is measured). Not that there's anything wrong with books, of course. (Though some are better than others).

Also amusing is that this article appeared almost a week earlier (though a few paragraphs shorter) in the Youth Hanguk Ilbo, so these results were certainly not released on the 23rd, as it says above. I imagine someone needed to publish another article for Yonhap before they could go home for the holiday, and they came up with this.

Jeju Weekly on the SMOE budget cuts

Jeju Weekly has a good story on the SMOE cuts and the fears that they may spread throughout the country and affect public school foreign teachers in Jeju. Here's what SMOE said in an interview:

Currently, SMOE states that this is not the first step to replace all foreign English teachers with Korea English teachers.

“We will never stop hiring [native English-speaking teachers]. We have NO plan to make Korean English teachers replace them. We need to recruit hundreds of foreign teachers a year for the time being in spite of the budget cuts. But the number will be reduced,” Choi [Chun Ok, SMOE Foreign Education Department Chief] stressed in an email interview with The Weekly. Throughout the three-page response to our questions, this paragraph was the only one specifically written in English.

“Foreign English teachers have greatly contributed to the development of English education in Seoul. However, it is time to reevaluate the cost-effectiveness, considering a huge sum of budget (about 52 billion won, or US$45 million annually). So we are changing our policy from quantity expansion to quality improvement,” said Choi.

SMOE said the three reasons influencing the budget cut to middle school English teachers are the improvement of Korean English teachers in TEE, that according to their research foreign English teachers are most effective in elementary schools, and the need to provide cost-effective quality programs.

“So it is not a sudden decision or unprepared plan,” said Choi.

Interesting. When the cuts were first announced it was reported that SMOE planned for the end of native speaking teachers in high schools, but that the cut to middle [and elementary] school teachers was the Seoul Metropolitan Council's unexpected decision.

According to SMOE, the average monthly salary of a foreign English teacher is between 1.8 million to 3 million won a month, but when considering accommodation allowance, flight reimbursement, and contract completion bonuses it equals between 38 million to 48 million ($33,000 to $42,000) a year. For a native English-speaker with a teaching certificate but no experience, they earn about 43 million won ($37,000) a year (including accommodation allowance and other benefits), while a Korean with the same qualifications only costs SMOE 31 million won ($27,000) a year.

Just for fun, looking at the figures for the lowest salary, 1.8 x 13 = 22.4 + [flight] 1.3 x 2 = 2.6 + [settlement allowance] .3 = 25.3 million a year. I believe the most paid per month by housing (in my area at least) is 700,000 a month (though its usually 3-400,000 a month), and if that high figure is multiplied by 12, we get 8.4 million + 25.3 million = 33.7 million, a bit less than the 38 million quoted above. But whatever. Clearly, it's higher than the 31 million won new Korean teachers make.

Further statements from SMOE representatives claim that there will be more openings for after-school English classes, and that what happened in Seoul "does not signify a nationwide trend." Other than Gyeonggi-do and Gangwon-do, I guess. Seeing as some provinces have only just reached peak numbers for NSETs such as Gyeongsangbuk-do, I doubt there will be large cuts there in the near future. Also worth remembering is that Gyeonggi-do was one of the first provinces to hire NSETs en masse, as this graph (I don't know where I found it) using figures from September 2006 - over five years ago - reveals:

Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Incheon, Gwangju, Daejeon, Ulsan, Gyeonggi-do

Gangwon, Chungbuk, Chungnam, Jeollabuk, Jeollanam, Gyeongbuk, Gyeongnam, Jeju

The blue bars show the number of schools in each province or city, the yellow bars show the number of NSETs in each province or city, and the figure in brackets is the NSET placement rate. At that time there were 2,877 NSETs in the public school system out of 10,890 schools, making for a 26.4% placement rate. As can be seen Gyeonggi-do had the largest number of NSETs (788) in 2006, and the second highest placement rate (behind Chungcheongnam-do). So perhaps it's not surprising to have seen cuts in Gyeonggi-do first. That said, that bit of history isn't going to convince anyone that this isn't mostly about politics.

One person is quoted in the Jeju Ilbo article saying "This budget cut should not be exaggerated," but perhaps someone should have said that to SBS, who broke the story in December, when they started their report with the caption "Native speaking teachers are disappearing."

Native speaking teachers to be reduced in Gangwon-do

On January 12, Gangwondomin Ilbo published an article discussing plans for the future in Gangwon-do which included the following section.

△Support for middle and high school native speaking teachers

With the prolonged economic recession, the burden of private education expenses is increasing for parents.

To reduce the burden of private education expenses for parents, the provincial education office operates the 'Project to support native speakers in middle and high schools.'

The 'project to support native speakers in middle and high schools' was implemented in 2007 to expand the opportunity for foreign language education and enhance understanding of international culture for middle and high school students.

Last year the province placed 216 native speaking instructors in schools, but with the strengthening of training for Korean English teachers, native speaking teachers are scheduled to be gradually decreased.

Accordingly, they will be reduced by the province and provincial office of education to 180 this year and 144 in both 2013 and 2014.

The project to support native speakers in middle and high schools cost 8.78 billion won last year and will be reduced to 7.42 billion won this year and 5.98 billion won in 2013 and 2014, with 20% of the financial burden being covered by the province, 30% by the city or county, and 50% by the provincial office of education. The reduction in the budget will allow funds to be used for other educational projects to reduce private education fees for parents.

The province expects the project to support native speakers in middle and high schools will have a large effect on cutting private education expenses for parents and will continue to do so in the future.

Gyeonggi-do, Seoul, Gangwon-do... Who's next? Worth keeping in mind is that this is only for middle and high school teachers, and not elementary school teachers, and 1/3 of NSETs in Gangwon-do middle and high schools being phased out over three years is not as drastic as Gyeonggi-do's cuts. On the other hand, this is a province which will be hosting a Winter Olympics in six years...

North Korea links

A week or so ago North Korean television broadcast an hour long program about Kim Jong-un, which can be seen here and which is analyzed in detail here.


Love that photo. As B.R. Myers has pointed out, the template of the leader riding a white horse (the one above is not so white, is it?), which both Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung did, comes from Emperor Hirohito. Speaking of Myers, he has a piece in the New York Times about the Kim succession.

And speaking of North Korean television, you can (apparently) watch 조선중앙방송 (KCTV) from 5 PM to around 11 PM KST on a live stream that comes through the South Korean broadcast station SPTV, and also through Korea Web which allows 64 bit systems to access it.

This link to the Rodong Sinmun was apparently new, as it worked for a few days before the good people upholding the national security law finally blocked it.

As well, SinoNK.com has released "China and the North Korean Succession," a compilation of open-source Chinese language materials translated and edited by Adam Cathcart which give insight into the Sino-North Korean relationship during the eight days following the announcement of Kim Jong-Il’s death.

Canadian returns to Korea to confess to a murder

A bit late on this, but a Canadian who taught English in universities from 2001 to 2009 returned to Korea to confess that he'd murdered his ex-girlfriend, a university student, in 2009. He'd gotten away with it and made it look like accidental drowning, but he was wracked by guilt and returned to confess to her family and police. The fact that he said he did it because he thought she was going to kill him doesn't suggest the most stable of minds (but who knows what actually happened). Unsurprisingly, there were a lot of news reports on this (39 at last count), one of which is translated at Korea Beat. It's also been reported by the Korea Times, Korea Herald, and Chosun Ilbo.

I liked this scene in YTN's report:


One wonders if there are actually any police officers in the room or if they are all journalists. It's one of the things that baffles me, the allowing of the press into police stations. Perhaps it's part and parcel of being a shame-based society. At any rate, you can hear him talking in that video.

I wonder who all the people are in the screenshot below (from an MBC report); he certainly towers over everyone.


I've never come across any arrests of English teachers for murder in Korea (not counting Korean American gangsters who committed crimes in the US or Canada), and while it wouldn't surprise me if this was used as fodder for more "there is yet another loophole in the native speaking verification system" articles, I almost wonder if the interest here might be more in the fact that the man - a product of a guilt-based society - returned to Korea to confess the crime, rather than the crime itself.

For example, the article translated at Korea Beat has the following:

Netizens had various reactions to the news of the murder and the Canadian’s confession, such as “he must have been haunted by a Korean ghost even in Canada,” and “it’s lucky that the defendant was so full of sadness.”

Here are a few of the titles from the 39 articles. Most common is the title the Maeil Gyeongje used: "Canadian English instructor who murdered girlfriend gives self up after three years."

Newsis: Native speaking instructor who murdered Korean female university student in Han River gives self up after three years.

Chosun Ilbo: Canadian English instructor: "The ghost of my girlfriend who died three years ago has followed me around... I came to be punished."

Segye Ilbo: Canadian English instructor who murdered girlfriend but was found innocent gives self up after three years.

IB Times: Canadian who killed lover turns self in is "miserable"... 'Why' did he kill woman 14 years his junior?

Donga Ilbo: "The scene of my girlfriend's murder constantly replays in my mind..." Canadian voluntarily returns to Korea and turns self in after three years

less than a third of the articles mention "English teacher" or "native speaking teacher" in the title, so that angle is not being as played up as it could be.

I keep wondering when the Canadian press is going to pick this up.

Music-related links

Here are some fun music related-links:

G'old [good old] Korean vinyl: Hongdae vinyl oldies bar Gopchang Jeonggol and concert promoter Super Color Super team up to rip tracks from the bar's extensive vinyl collection from the '70s to the '90s and provide mp3s. A mix tape (or mp3 collection) of several tracks they've released plus others can be found here.

Korean Indie: All you would ever want to know about Korean indie music including reviews and interviews by the people who brought you Korea Gig Guide and Indieful ROK. A brief history of the indie music scene in Korea is here.

If this is all too modern for you, how about a collection of Korean hits from the 1930s and early 1940s? (Hat tip to Jamie)

And looking at about the same era is Roald Maliangkay's article "Koreans Performing for Foreign Troops: The Occidentalism of the C.P.C. and K.P.K." (As the article notes, the "Chosen Music Club (C.M.C.) and the K.P.K., which derives its name from the initials of the family names of its three main members (Kim Haesong 金海松, Paek Ŭnsŏn 白恩善, Kim Chŏnghwan 金貞桓), were two variety show collectives whose activities from the late 1930s to the 1950s". The former performed for Japanese troops, the latter for US and UN troops.)

And for books ranging from recent to a hundred years old about East Asia, have a look here.