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The Seoul Shinmun recently interviewed Mr. Lee Eun-ung, a member of the Anti-English Spectrum Cafe that works for the deportation of English teachers who are either unqualified, do drugs, or have sex with Korean women. Link includes video with further portions of the interview, including an accusation that some foreign teachers commit sexual assault. Hat tip to The Marmot's Hole.
"Carrying a gun into war is not the only way to love your country. Our goal is to ferret out illegal foreign English teachers to create an English educational environment that our children can trust and be safe in." 39-year old Lee Eun-ung of Anti-English Spectrum, a group dedicated to the deportation of illegal foreign language teachers, began to explain his thoughts on the need to deport them, saying, "we must catch all of the illegal foreign teachers who come here by various illegal methods to teach foreign languages." His thoughts fill his words. "I have decided to sacrifice." But it has not been easy for him to work his office job and this one, as he has for over four years. To track down the locations of foreign teachers using drugs he spent 150 days in bitterly cold weather, outworking the police, not going home. Many times he has asked schools to fire foreign teachers who make a hobby out of having sex at knifepoint, tracked down foreign lecturers who bring venereal disease, and warned security guards and hagwon authorities about kidnappers. The group was founded in January of 2005 amidst great anger at an online community site for foreign lecturers staying in Korea. The site had been receiving societal criticism for having posted photographs of half-naked Korean women in a nightclub and members had written boastingly of having sexual relationships with middle school students and married women. Angered citizens, prominent among them Mr. Lee, who investigated those postings by foreign lecturers and understand the truth of them, founded the movement to deport low-quality foreign lecturers. "What kind of foreign lecturer takes drugs?" "Who can do such a terrible thing?" they wrote, but unqualified foreign lecturers frequently live in a different place from that registered with the Immigration Office. Because of this, even when they make a report to police it is difficult to catch illegal foreign lecturers. The members of Anti-English Spectrum follow them in disguise and make a report to police or other authorities once they have gathered enough information. Mr. Lee said, "on one foreign website that encourages UK citizens to come teach English Japan is described as 'dating heaven'. It's so awful that foreign lecturers think Korea and Japan are the same." Mr. Lee gave this interview while showing pictures and videos given to the police. ▶What stages has the illegal foreign lecturers' deportation movement gone through since it started? -In 2005 photos and writings which degraded Korean women were posted on a community site for native English speakers teach English here. I confirmed that these native speakers had a corrupted perspective on Korea and carried on sexual relationships with minors and married women and realized that we could not entrust our children to such people and the movement was begun. We want a system to improve English education while stopping the harm that these native speakers do to Korea. ▶It must be difficult to be involved in the movement while also working your office job. -I prepare some policy reports or pursue an illegal foreign lecturer, braving fire and water and working until past midnight. And after my office job I don't sleep, I feel tired all over. Some of our members collapse from the exhaustion. There are some funny times, like when we report a foreign lecturer to the police for doing drugs at his workplace but the people there actually didn't realize he was doing drugs. And some of our members have quit their jobs because of the time they spent on the movement. ▶It's demanding of you to work these two jobs but you've been doing it for four years. What results have you seen from it? -We are determined to do this as a sacrifice. Through our sacrifice we can prevent our children being taught English by unqualified lecturers and achieve the deportation of foreigners who commit crimes, and our willing sacrifice is our principled stand. We work harder than anyone knows and feel a keen sense of duty. People who join our movement are bound together by our willingness to sacrifice to change the English education environment for their children. ▶Don't you worry that this movement could lead to nationalism or intolerance of foreigners? -This is our most important boundary. Our first obligation is to avoid a one-sided view of all foreign lecturers as bad. We recognize the role of foreign lecturers in English education in our country. So on our website we introduce good foreign lecturers and avoid one-sidedness. There are times when foreign lecturers come to use to ask for help. They tell us how they have been harmed by their hagwons. If we were so one-sided they wouldn't come to us like that. ▶ In September Kathleen Stephens became the US ambassador to Korea. Didn't she first gain affinity with Korea through being an English teacher? We only present the problems created by foreign lecturers who violate the law. It is difficult to punish unqualified foreign lecturers because they live in places other than what they have registered with the Immigration Office. Most foreign lecturers who come to Korea are in their twenties, and there is no way to stop them from enjoying their youth. But we must expect them to conform our society's laws and to behave as gentlemen. ▶What must be kept in mind in order to prevent the damage done by unqualified foreign lecturers? -These days in the Gangbuk area of Seoul there are foreign lecturers who get paid in advance for private lessons and then never show up, and when parents report them to the Immigration Office or the Office of Education the authorities will immediately investigate. In the end those lecturers apologize and return the money. The truth is that no policy can prevent this kind of thing. To prevent this kind of harm, parents must spread the word on internet sites that private tutoring is illegal. All private lessons are illegal for foreigners staying on an E-2 visa, and those with F-2 visas must report their lessons to the Office of Education. In the last four years Anti-English Spectrum has achieved the deportation, arrest, or fining of over 80 foreign lecturers. The group has over 6,000 members, over 300 of whom are directly involved in activism. Most of them are office workers or parents in their thirties. It has begun a campaign to deport all illegal foreign lecturers from the over 4,000 schools in Seoul. Mr. Lee said, "when you look at the harm done by illegal foreign lecturers with forged degrees, you want to know when they will be gone."
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Hope you got as many chuckles translating that piece as I did reading it.
Psycho vigilante nutjobs. Thanks for the headsup.
I think I was the victim of one of these parents. She called the police about me teaching privates...only to be totally dismayed to find out I had an F2 visa and the privates were legal in nature. Unfortunately, I have heard through a friend that that call has drawn heat on other teachers with E2 visa's teaching privates in my area.
“What kind of foreign lecturer takes drugs?” When are people going to realize that EVERYONE takes drugs!! Whether it be caffeine, Tylenol, cigarettes, or alcohol, you are taking a drug. Hell, your own brain is one big drug factory! What a moron... “on one foreign website that encourages UK citizens to come teach English Japan is described as ‘dating heaven’. It’s so awful that foreign lecturers think Korea and Japan are the same.” Why does he care so much for Japan..? And how did he manage to weasel Korea into the argument? There are times when foreign lecturers come to use to ask for help. They tell us how they have been harmed by their hagwons. If we were so one-sided they wouldn’t come to us like that." Ok, but what did you do to help them? (probably nothing) "All private lessons are illegal for foreigners staying on an E-2 visa, and those with F-2 visas must report their lessons to the Office of Education." I know. That's why I don't teach private lessons. However, I still see plenty of Koreans tutoring children in homes. Shouldn't you go after them, too? In the end, I totally agree that people who are breaking the law should be brought to some sort of justice. However, look at how Korean society deals with or enforces laws on its own citizens. If Mr. Lee feels so strongly about protecting minors, then he would probably be a lot more successful if were "hunting down" Koreans. All he is doing with his little "hobby" is creating a doublestandard. What a load of crap.
This is crap. I agree that there are foreign teachers in Korea who are unqualified or who do things that are illegal, however, this guy seems to be making the assumption that all foreign teachers in Korea are a bunch of drug abusing, sex crazed, rapists. Obviously, that is not the case. Most foreign teachers devote too much of their time and effort to trying to upgrade the English ability of the children of the same parents who operate this witch hunt. Its just another example of the xenophobia and ignorance that exists in a country that should, by now, be starting to modernize and thus be more tolerant of people of other races and nationalities. If this is how the general Korean feels about foreigners, perhaps we should start deporting Koreans from our countries and sending them back to Korea.
#hyeonggok Yep, because that would totally be the mature and sensible response that would put our countries on the moral high ground. This guy obviously has an axe to grind but he does seem to at least make an effort to portray himself as not simply interested in persecuting all foreigners.
wow! and i'm supposed to believe that this guy is crusading for higher quality English instruction in Korea? If that's so then he should start with the lax Korean educational system, not with the teachers it employs. Really, he and his buddies just don't like the idea of foreign men sleeping with their women...It's all very simple. If all ESL teachers in Korea were (white) women we wouldn't hear a peep outta this guy
Wow! That article... that guy is so... wow! What a guy! What a hero! I don't even know where to begin... what an amazing, valuable cause to dedicate your life to. I too am disgusted by foreign English teachers here, who (and I have no evidence but I know it to be true) are the major source of all crime in Korea. I heard of one teacher that went to school with a beard. Sickening. God, some of us aren't even white! Get rid of us all I say. I smoke crack every lunchtime at school, excpet when I'm having sex with Korean women who I seduced with the degree I printed off the internet and coloured in myself. I need Mr. Lee to please save me from myself. On a serious note, this sort of "blame the outsider," senstationalist scaremongering, and convincing parents to be scared for their children of malevolant different looking predators, is so counter-productive to solving the more serious issues he mentions such as drug [ab]use, sexual violence and child abuse, which Korean society seems reluctant to self-confess.
I'm pretty sure this kind of activity that targets a particular ethnic demographic (ie. racism) is illegal in most western countries. I presume he is fine with sending children to an education system that still tolerates corporal punishment. Abuse of students by their teachers makes the headlines every year in Korea, yet he sees the issue of misbehaving and/or illegal foreign teachers of such paramount importance that he "collapse(s) from the exhaustion"? I dare say the proportion of 'bad egg' teachers is equally prevalent among locals anyway. So what is this then? Xenophobic vigilantism. The story of a teacher taking drugs in their Hagwon is extraordinary yet I wonder how many times he, or his members, breached that teacher's privacy in their investigations. And what of the teachers under their investigation who have done nothing wrong but have inadvertently behaved in a culturally insensitive way? I know I'd be guilty of that in Korea. Is that ground to be under a covert investigation? Illegal activity doesn't remove one's rights even when working in area that requires high levels of care and responsibility such as teaching. These groups have no accountability in their actions and have no doubt conducted illegal investigations, how else would they have such sensational stories? Foreigners in Korea are vulnerable enough as it is without vigilantes like this. What scares me more is that this behavior is widely seen acceptable if not admirable in Korea. Drug taking, Rape, pedophillia, kidnaping? No, Koreans never do such things, it must be the work of those evil foreigners on their quest to violate Korean minds. So much or anti-racism.
Koreans (not all) need to look at themselves before trying to have the 'white devils' deported...sorry, you can't lump us all into the same pile. Some Korean women I've met prefer to be with a foreigner.....because we treat them better than Korean men....yes that has nothing to do with teaching English....
[...] of the very self-sacrificing founder of the anti-English Spectrum cafe I linked to last week has been translated for your reading enjoyment, thanks to Korea [...]
"We are determined to do this as a sacrifice... We only present the problems created by foreign lecturers who violate the law." Uh, not quite, nimrod. Last year I published a bestselling book here while employed legally at Hongik University, and the Anti-English Rectum Cafe encouraged its members to call my university and demand my dismissal. For what? Because I dared to criticize Korea in the book! It therefore seems that these folks are also anti-free speech. They should at least be honest enough to admit it, rather than being so thoroughly disingenuous. For the record, my university stood behind me, as did a number of my students who supported me as well. BTW, I wonder how this doofus would feel about the fact that the newspaper in which this interview appears was founded by a foreigner who "violated the law" in his defense of Koreans against the Japanese?
Wow - I never realised how libido issues could create so much interest in 'children's education'. Does he not realise that if he at threw in something - anything - about the actual teaching of English it might just give his cause a tiny drop of validity?
I'm curious as to what this guy's response was to the Korean court sending a sexually abused girl back to live with the men who abused her for years because "someone had to look after her"? Somehow a forged diploma doesn't seem such a bad thing in comparison.
I don't have any fault with the guy's logic that illegal teachers should be deported. If you're here without a degree or you're teaching privates outside of your contract, then you're breaking the law and are subject to the punishments that that entails. I do love to play the devil's advocate but however rational this guy wishes to appear, the underlying racism is ridiculously obvious. I suspect there's also a fair degree of jealousy - these foreign bastards waltz in here on Mickey Mouse degrees, make more money than a lot of hard-working Koreans, lead decadent lifestyles in the midst of a conservative society and then have the nerve to complain or condescend on various message boards. That's the message I got, anyway. It's telling that he demanded foreign teachers behave like 'gentlemen' - pretty well hammers home the point that a lot of this is libido-driven. (although this may have been a unisex term in Korean that was translated to 'gentlemen' in English?) I don't really blame them for being jealous - it is kind of an unfair situation - but to devote your life to hunting these people down is quite a sad little practice. Sparkling Korea, I have to take exception to what you wrote - most of my Korean guy friends treat their girlfriends exceedingly well. I've also met my share of Korean girls who are only interested in foreign men, but it usually doesn't have a lot to do with how they get treated.
Stranger than fiction. I have sex with my Korean wife at knifepoint all the time. She married me at knifepoint, and I generally like to keep her that way during meals, at movies, and during our casual conversations. I've made a habit of it.
well it's the douche's own life to waste. the last 8 years under bush have seen plenty of "“blame the outsider,” senstationalist scaremongering" too, so chalk it up to universal douche nature :P
So kids getting smacked/beaten with sticks by Korean teachers = education, excellent. Non-Korean teachers having consensual sex with Korean females = travesty, a crime. I see how this logic works.
Question: How is this dudes extracurricular activity any different from the antics of say the "Minute Men"?
Whats the problem with having inter racial relationships? Most of his points are valid but I just can't accept that. In a country where there is a house of prostitution in every building we are blamed to be immoral for treating races and gender equal. Its funny how Japanese nationalism and colonial rule was so despised here but some people carry on those lessons. Maybe the Japanese blood runs through some Koreans More than they wish Treat woman equally, they have the right to choose a partner for whatever reasons. There was no mention of deporting Vietnamese wife's of Korean men who disrupt the rural life of Korea by having little Koran education to teach their children with. Maybe the foreign prostitutes are to blame. Korean men have no problem destroying family values for fun at an anma. If you don't trust the teachers at your child's Hagwon ask for verification of a degree and medical check and do the same of the Korean staff. I also agree on drugs. I wouldn't want my child's teacher to be high. But on the same note I wouldn't want him to see his father passed out on the sidewalk at 10PM covered in his own vomit. when he leaves the academy. Xenophobic behaviour like this is what keeps Korea isolated. This same behaviour that happened in Japan before and look what happened! Just because these actions are Korean culture does not make it right.
"BTW, I wonder how this doofus would feel about the fact that the newspaper in which this interview appears was founded by a foreigner who “violated the law” in his defense of Koreans against the Japanese?" Sorry, but Baeksu's conflating to entirely different things here. The foreigners who come to Korea at present aren't engaged activities opposing a force that poses as an existential threat to the Korean nation itself. While the expat likes to tell himself this, the expat is by and large not in Korea to make it a better happier place. They're mostly here in order to make a buck before moving on to other things in life. Not saying that there's anything wrong with that. But that's just the way the cookie crumbles. Furthermore, yes Baeksu, there were foreigners who sought to free Korea from Japanese colonialism but there were also many who had absolutely no problem with it.
But we must expect them to conform our society’s laws and to behave as gentlemen. Just as soon as Koreans start doing that I'm sure foreigners will start doing the same.
"Sorry, but Baeksu’s conflating to entirely different things here." Or, could it possibly be that I was merely stating an ironic fact of history? The Daehan Maeil Shinbo, founded by British journalist Ernest Bethell at the turn of the last century, was renamed Seoul Shinmun in 2003. Seoul Shinmun, in fact, has a recent history of inflammatory articles against Westerners here, and I wonder if its editors feel a particular need to justify their nationalist bona fides given the particular nature of its establishment by a big-nosed barbarian?
#20 - A lot of foreign teachers, even ones who come here with the primary goal of saving up some money and then leaving, are quite concerned and in some cases quite disturbed by English education here. Many cannot even express their concerns openly because Korea's libel laws, which do not consider truth to be a valid defence, making it impossible for them to point out obvious flaws and scams in private education. At no point does Mr Lee, whose only genuine interest seems to be foreigners' sex lives and perhaps drug use, attempt to enage any concerns about the problems FTs face because of flaws in Korea's educational system. It would be interesting for someone who speaks Korean to request him, however fowl a scoundral he may be, to write a piece outlining how Korea could attract and retain more professional English teachers. Of course I'm sure that the last thing he wants is actually long-term professional FTs who integrate themselves into Korean society.
"...I wonder if its editors feel a particular need to justify their nationalist bona fides given the particular nature of its establishment by a big-nosed barbarian?" Well Baeksu, we'll never really know unless you ask the editor and writers themselves. But this is beside the point. It's moot to assert that Seoul Shinmun was founded by a "big-nosed barbarian". Fact is, ownership and editorship changes through the course of time. New talent comes in with different visions and goals and acts accordingly. According to you logic, the writers at the Chicago Tribune write what they do simply to excorcise that papers past baggage of Col. McCormack. You and I both know it's a stretch to assert such a thing in that particular context just like it is in this Korean context.
Phineas Coffee, I hereby officially dub thee a prat. Have a nice weekend!
My kingdom for this creep's email and phone number. He'll be getting the same treatment as the "foreigners, you are being watched" dickhead in Daejeon if someone could be so kind.
I like a part about foreigners making a hobby of having sex at knifepoint. Is this guy for real? I hope someone pisses in his gas tank.
Those evil, evil foreign teachers... A translation of an interview with the guy in charge of Anti-English Spectrum Cafe, the leading anti-foreign-teacher group in Korea. Trackback URL for this post: http://www.cleverturtles.com/trackback/413 ...
"The Daehan Maeil Shinbo, founded by British journalist Ernest Bethell at the turn of the last century, was renamed Seoul Shinmun in 2003" What is your source on that? I thought the Daehan Maeil Shinbo closed down in 1910, and wasn't restarted at least during the occupation period. My source for this was "Colonial Publication Policy and the Korean Nationalist Movement" by Michael E Robinson, included in THE JAPANESE COLONIAL EMPRE, 1895-1945 ed. Ramon Myers and Mark Peattie.
28: www.korea.net/News/News/NewsView.asp?from=todaynews&serial_no=20081125011&part=113
"A prat" you say. I'm honored. If by "prat" you mean someone who punctures your ludicrously inflated perspectives I gladly accept. Keep the asinine machine churning your royal highness.
Is this kind of bullshit indicative of the attitudes of average Koreans? After spending time there I am beginning to think it is.I was thinking about going back for more punishment but after reading shit like this I am going to try somewhere else like Taiwan or Japan, or possibly China again. I say let Koreans teach themselves Engrisheeeeeee.
I'm pretty sure the average Korean would consider this guy basically a loser.
Damn, I'm currently studying at university to become a teacher; if they're concerned about male English teachers dating Korean females - I'd hate to know what they would think about a gay inter-racial relationship! Dear god, I can see why Korean, Chinese and Japanese students are clambering to stay in New Zealand with the sort of unenlightened half-wits like Lee Eun-ung thieving oxygen.
"the expat is by and large not in Korea to make it a better happier place." Yes, PC, you can pretend that you are deconstructing my entire argument (which was about free speech, in case you missed it) by zeroing in on an incidental footnote referring to an historical fact, but as the above statement indicates, you are so full of ignorant preconceptions and bigoted stereotypes that, yes, you are indeed a prat.
King Baeksu, I don't think that these "folks" are anti-free speech. Truth be told they probably don't care what the hell expats say. They just don't want to employ or work with individuals who say things that they find offensive. Say any matter of nonsense you want in the streets of Seoul or in whatever publications. Just don't be shocked when you employer of fellow co-worker finds it offensive and thereafter doesn't want to have anything to do with you. Your free to say what you want, they're free to associate, employ, and work with who they want. It's give and take my friend. Finally, how is my skepticism about expats doing societal good in Korea a form of bigotry or bias? Is it because I don't subscribe to the self-flattering and narcissistic tropes that expats need to tell themselves in order to justify their misplaced indignations? Frankly, your unalloyed umbrage at my statement without providing any concrete proof to belie it only confirms what I thought: that the trope of expats doing good in Korea is just that a trope.
Wow! There is some really high-level BS going on here. What a self-stroke fest. And some really horrible crudeness too. I thought the guy in the article was bad, but he sure brought out the best in all of us, huh? Phineas: Regarding your first question, it is no different or less misguided and rascist than what the minutemen do. They are also assholes with nothing better to who think they're doing something great because they need real purpose in their lives other than slaving away to buy the next newest, biggest thing. To make general statements about what 'the expat' thinks is silly. To believe that anyone works for the pure joy of make the country they live in a better place is naive, of course. Everyone works toward selfish ends, that is, for one's own needs and desires. If you believe that expats should be here simply to make Korea a better place, then you are misguided. Expats are here to do their job as proscribed by their employer. If they are not qualified and they are kept on anyway, whose fault is that? If expats don't respect the culture (or perhaps don't understand the culture), whose job is it to educate them? While taking the initiative and doing it yourself is admirable, it is not the norm. Korean co-workers could just as easily take culture sensitivity classes to help them co-exist more easily. But then this might cost the employer time and money. Plenty of Koreans say offensive or culturally-insensitive things or are just plain rude by Western standards.
PC, you are an idiot. The Anti-English Rectum Cafe people tried to get me FIRED from my job because I had written a book, which happened to be popular. They had no connection to my school, and in fact I'm a certified teacher; the matter was strictly a free-speech issue. Because I lack Korean blood, they decided that they could try to compromise my livelihood. Hence the original point of my post: They are being thoroughly disingenuous when they claim to only care about issues of illegality. Many readers here have seen posters throw around the term "the expat" such as you do. Don't think we're so stupid as not not understand exactly where you're coming from.
PC, you are an idiot troll. The Anti-English Rectum Cafe people tried to get me FIRED from my job because I had written a book, which happened to be popular. They had no connection to my school, and in fact I'm a certified teacher; the matter was strictly a free-speech issue. Because I lack Korean blood, they decided that they could try to compromise my livelihood for putting pen to paper. Hence the original point of my post: They are being thoroughly disingenuous when they claim to only care about issues of illegality. Many readers here have seen posters throw around the term "the expat" such as you do. Don't think we're so stupid as not not understand exactly where you're coming from.
Ah, the wounded sense of entitlement of the expat (sorry, but its too apt a term for me to simply retire away)!! It's really amazing to watch folks like Baeksu or DEZ get all indignate and fulminate when the natives don't swallow whole their meretriciousness in a grateful manner. Listen, I'll repeat again what I said before: you're free to say, write, and do whatever it is you like to say, write, and do while in Korea. Just don't expect others to have to be associated with, employ, or have anything to do with you if you pontificate in manner that they find objectionable. If you're that worried about your livelihood then act in a manner that is prudent and judicious. Western employers on a large part apply the same criterion to their employees as well. When an employee begins to engage in activities that harm the organization they belong to or it starts to interfere with work then its completely justified to let that individual go. They're not styming free speech they're maintaining institutional integrity.
Consider the case of Juan Cole, a professor of Middle East studies who maintains a blog devoted to the Iraq conflict, Pakistan, Shia religion, and other Mid-East related stuff. A few years back Yale was in the process of offering him a position but in the end decided (due to pressure from certain Jewish alumni it is reported) not to extend him a formal tenure position. Yale, through its own institutional mechanisms decided it simply wasn't worth the trouble to have Dr. Cole a part of its faculty because in the end they didn't want to associate themselves with the opinions of Dr. Cole. Same case with Larry Summer at Harvard as was is the case with Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI that requires its tenure faculty to members of the Christian Reformed Church. No legal authority has asserted that these institutions are impeding free speech or abridging an individuals freedom of religion. Rather, all are excercising their freedom to associate. I think this is what expats need to keep in mind before they start to engage in their usual tantrums about the illiberalness of Korean society.
As a matter of full disclosure, I'd like to mention that Prof. Juan Cole teaches at the University of Michigan, my alma mater, where I had the pleasure of taking his courses in "20th Century Mid-East Wars".
PC, you seem unable to differentiate between the race-baiting xenophobes of the Anti-English Spectrum Cafe and my previous employer, Hongik. My previous employer was happy to be associated with me and in fact hired me precisely because of my reputation as a well-known writer in Korea, you moron. I do not have a sense of entitlement and handled the situation with the Anti-English Spectrum Cafe entirely well of my own accord. I merely mentioned this personal example here in order to expose the truth behind the dissembling propaganda of Mr. Lee Eun-ung. PC, you are a confused individual with poor reading skills and a rather bitter view of the world. You are a prat, and I invite you to kiss my white ass, punk.
Shucks, for a person lacking in any sense of entitlement, why ask that I kiss your ass? After all, given your self-aggrandizing appellation I gathered that you do that for yourself rather well within every second of your being. It's no wonder rhetoric reeks of your ass juices and other sort of fecel detritus. As for your experience with Hongdae, I'm glad to here that they kept you on in the sense that you still had a livelihood. But I'm at a loss as to why they think your a "good writer" given how your writing is just a slight step above some drivel written in "Lonely Planet". But oh well, to each their own. Your own personal experience, however, does nothing to detract from my overall point: each institution decides on their own who they decide to hire, fire, or retain. In your case, despite your less than orginal observations as well as gadfly-esque behavior, they decided to continue their association with you. Some institutions may decide not to be so charitable. And this is what you and other expats need to understand. If you want to have a job in Korea and continue commenting about Korea, prudence would dictate that you find a way to synchronize those to endeavors. You're not middle schooler anymore Baeksu. Your actions have consequences, whether it's in the States or Korea.
The korea.net article claims a connection between Seoul Shinmun and Daehan Maeil Shinbo, but I wouldn't trust it that much without more of an explanation. Everything I've read suggests that the paper closed down shortly after Bethell's departure, and was not reopened during the occupation period. When did they reopen, and why did they claim continuity with the former? I'm guessing the just took the name, and there is no real connection.
Im smiling, I have a sense of smugness, South Korea was good to me, I extracted $40,000 from their economy, through teaching at schools and also privates. I highly doubt I made much of an impact in improving their English or their "groupthink" attitudes. In a lot of the hogwons I was the jumping monkey they desired. I found good teaching is all about good acting, adapting to the environment and the target audience. Essentially, I found that Koreans as a whole feel cheated when a "foreigner" makes money in their country , its almost a deep seated part of the national psyche, the whole lonestar issue had those connotations. I have huge reservations that Korea will become the hub of north east asia, the place is so nationalist, all investors have shied away.
I see these keyboard ninjas are keeping busy chasing some of us around. Of course, it would do their society more good if they chased actual bad guys like abusive pimps, abusive husbands, and corrupt officials. But they're racist wimps so I don't see that happening.
READ THIS PART AGAIN: “Carrying a gun into war is not the only way to love your country. Our goal is to ferret out illegal foreign English teachers to create an English educational environment that our children can trust and be safe in.” 39-year old Lee Eun-ung of Anti-English Spectrum, a group dedicated to the deportation of illegal foreign language teachers, began to explain his thoughts on the need to deport them, saying, “we must catch all of the illegal foreign teachers who come here by various illegal methods to teach foreign languages.” His thoughts fill his words. “I have decided to sacrifice.” NOW, IMAGINE YOU SAW THIS IN THE NEWSPAPER IN (USA, CANADA, NZ, AUS, SA, GB, IRE, etc): “Carrying a gun into war is not the only way to love your country. Our goal is to ferret out illegal Korean workers to create an crime-free environment that our pupblic can trust and be safe in.” 39-year old John Smith of Anti-Korean Spectrum, a group dedicated to the deportation of illegal Korean workers, began to explain his thoughts on the need to deport them, saying, “we must catch all of the illegal Koreans who come here by various illegal methods to work.” His thoughts fill his words. “I have decided to sacrifice.” NOW, HOW LONG WOULD THAT PAPER LAST BEFORE THE COURT CASES BEGAN?
Sigh... It's only a matter of time before someone in the USA founds an "anti Korean illegal immigrant society." |
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