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This is one of two pieces the Dong-A Ilbo put together following the LA Times' recent article on the Anti-English Spectrum outfit, which now has a new name. Hat tip to Gusts of Popular Feeling. The actions of 40-year-old Yie Eun-woong for the deportation of illegal foreign English instructors who use drugs or molest women are being criticized by an organization of foreign teachers, the Los Angeles Times reported on January 31. Mr. Yie leads the group "Citizens of Right English Education" (올바른 영어교육을 위한 시민모임(불법 외국어강사 퇴출을 위한 국민운동)), monitoring the activities of foreign instructors in Korea and their pasts in their home countries. The group was created starting from a single 2005 internet post about a community website for foreign instructors in Korea. That post was about sexual relationships between foreign instructors and Korean students, including college students or underage students, and was very shocking. Outraged, a movement including Mr. Yie began working for the expulsion of "unqualified" foreign instructors. Mr. Yie selects problem instructors submitted by upset parents, then sends information necessary for their punishment to authorities. To gather information on the foreign instructor during that process he goes directly to their homes. An organization of foreign English teachers in Korea harshly criticizes this, calling it "no different from stalking and harming people who have done nothing wrong," the newspaper reported. Members of the foreign teacher's group said, "it is true that every year a few foreign instructors are arrested for marijuana or other crimes, but they are arrested for drug crimes at a much lower rate than the Korean population." At the end of last year the leader of the foreign teacher's group, the newspaper reported, received a threatening e-mail saying, "I have formed the group Kill White in Korea to kill white people in Korea. Foreigners will be punished. Leave Korea quietly." In an interview with the LA Times the leader said, "foreign instructors have to submit to AIDS tests, which Korean teachers do not, and criminal background checks... Because of a few 'problem children' all foreign instructors are under suspicion, and this nationalist sentiment is not abating." In response, Mr. Yie emphasized, "I think KWK is a fake group created by a foreign instructor... the aim of our group is to protect students and parents." He added, "we created a system for students and parents to report low-quality foreign instructors and many times we have found cases of them being involved in drugs or gambling... The accusation that we are a racist group is false, we always try to look with an open mind at foreign instructors." The LA Times, relying on the views of experts, reported that there is a clash between the ideas of "Korean society changing to be open to multiculturalism rather than focusing on racial homogeneity" and "this is a problem not of race but of teachers and students".
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The Korean headline is "스토커’ VS ‘한국 학생보호," "Stalker versus Korean student protection." The DAI seems to think there's a stalking-not-following issue. Someone noted that it's unfair that ATEK wasn't interviewed for this, but I think this article does a decent job of presenting the ATEK point of view, both their criticism of AES's tactics and the death threat.
"...the aim of our group is to protect students and parents." Correction: "...the aim of our group is to protect students and parents from non-ethnic Koreans, while kyopo teachers and Korean hagwon owners naturally get a free pass." Fixed it for you, guys!
BTW, have the allegations of underage sex between English Spectrum users and students actually been proven, or more likely, is this yet more baseless rumor reported as "fact" by a member of the Korean media? We would like more evidence or proof, such as actual cases and convictions, before we are actually "shocked," Reporter Kim.
The Korean media doesn't seem to be based in the presentation of fact. It mostly focuses on riling up sentiment, which, due to its resulting popularity, comes to be accepted as fact. Correlation is necessarily causation it seems.
What would Koreans (not US nationals) say or do if people started "following" them around in the US looking out for their "bad behavoirs" all because of what happened at Virginia Tech? That's a rhetorical question btw because we know what would happen. As you all know, a Korean national murdered 32 people there. Have English teachers in Korea ever done anything like that or even close to it? I guess "stealing" a lot of "their" women is a crime. That's something I expect to hear from the KKK and other scumbags like them. As far as the death threats go, well it wouldn't the first time Koreans have made death threats against non Koreans. Some Korean(s) even threatened to bomb the Swiss consulate becaus of a soccer game. There were all kinds of threats made against mostly "white" English teachers on various message boards in 2005 when the English Spectrum bs broke. Remember the call to arms by some Korean nutizens to have roving patrols going through Hondae and other places looking for foreign men with Korean women to check their behavoir? Apparently nothing happened, but how do we know? The Koreans media is not famous for reporting Korean assaults against foreigners, at least they didn't report on my buddy who was beaten by four Korean pukes and spent almost two weeks in the hospital. Anyone remember the call to film foreign male and Korean female couples? I do. Funny there was no call to film Korean males with foreign females. I guess it could have been an English teacher who did created the threats, but until there is concrete proof it was an English teacher, I'm not going to be like the Korean media and start accusing people without said proof. It could be possible that it was a gyopo who did it but without proof no one actually knows, it's all guess work isn't it?
who created..
did created..LOL!
John T, I do not have a hard time believing that the death threat reported on above was actually made and delivered. I, too, have received email death threats here in Korea as far back as 2002, well before the English Spectrum incident. I specifically recall back in 2002 being told to leave Korea within three days or my days would be numbered; this was prompted by the fact that I had released a popular book in Korea at the time and was quite visible in the vernacular media. In any case, it is not Yie's role to determine whether the death threat was legit or not (is he a member of the local police force, or a licensed private investigator and expert in cyber crime?), but simply to denounce it. After all, if he cares so much about "protecting" Korean students and parents, why is he so indifferent about the safety of non-Korean teachers here? Answer: Because it's all about blood and skin color for him, of course. BTW, I can't be bothered to properly fisk Kim Hyun-jin's article, but isn't it interesting that Anti-English Spectrum gets identified by name in the above article, but not ATEK, which is only vaguely alluded to as some random native English teachers' group here? Why does Anti-English Spectrum get the benefit of such legitization but not ATEK? In such ways does the reporter reveal her bias towards the "minjok" and their self-appointed protectors -- and evident bias against those who do not belong to it. In other words, I would argue that the above article was prompted not by concern over the "stalking" of expat English teachers here, but rather out of concern that Korea's image was possibly being adversely impacted by the actions of Yie and AES. But this should not surprise anyone who has spent a significant amount of time here in the Empire of Ch'emyon.
JohnT wrote: Apparently nothing happened, but how do we know? The Koreans media is not famous for reporting Korean assaults against foreigners, at least they didn't report on my buddy who was beaten by four Korean pukes and spent almost two weeks in the hospital. Did you alert the journalist who almost certainly came by to the local police station (경찰서 level) that evening to see what interesting stories had occurred? In the future, if something like that were to happen again, let that person know. Bring along a native Korean speaker to help out. Getting crap like that publicized involves gaming the system. King Baeksu wrote: John T, I do not have a hard time believing that the death threat reported on above was actually made and delivered. Are you saying you think the murder of an English teacher actually occurred since Christmas (i.e., the death threat was actually delivered on)? Or do you just mean someone actually delivered the threat to the person?
K, to "deliver" and "deliver on" a threat have distinct meanings. Since the threat was not made in person, it was delivered by email, evidently. Why don't you use your semantic vigilance to further ferret out the biases in Kim Hyun-jin's article above, rather than coming across yet again as a kind of stealth Korea apologist? I actually sent Kim Hyun-jin an email informing her of the fact that Yie personally tried to get me fired from Hongik University just because I had written a book, thereby belying his claim that he only cares about "protecting the students and parents," but like a vast majority of Korean journalists she has not bothered to reply to me (though I am able to confirm that she actually did open and read it). But why should anyone even be surprised, since I mentioned the incident in the introduction to my last book, published just a few months ago, and not one Korean journalist felt it was a "newsworthy" enough story to follow up on. Hey, much better to just bury one's head in the sand and ignore any uncomfortable facts in the Empire of Ch'emyon, is it not?
Since the threat was not made in person, it was delivered by email, evidently. Was there any doubt that it was delivered by email, regardless who sent it? All I was asking was clarification about your intended meaning of "delivered," especially since JohnT was making the (valid) point that an attack on a foreign resident could have occurred without the general public knowing about it. It was a reasonable question. Why don't you use your semantic vigilance to further ferret out the biases in Kim Hyun-jin's article above, rather than coming across yet again as a kind of stealth Korea apologist? Nice ad hominem attack there, KB. Hey, much better to just bury one's head in the sand and ignore any uncomfortable facts in the Empire of Ch'emyon, is it not? I'd first like to stop ignoring the uncomfortable possibility that the ATEK "death threat" was actually sent by a native anglophone. Just as Kim Hyunjin ignores your emails (I would try wearing a suit and showing up at her place of work, if I were you), Greg has ignored requests by me and others for information attached to the death threat email that would shed some light on its origins.
Ha! Ha! Of course, no English teacher was murdered, you know that. And the fact of the matter is, Koreans have made death threats against foreigners before. Funny, I know of more than just that one incident that was never investigated by any journalist and barely even investigated by the police. I worked with one of the victims and had to work for the SOB! Do you know of any incident that involved an English teacher being beaten and hospitalized by Koreans which was reported on a Korean news program or reported in a Korean newspaper? I'm not saying that it hasn't happened, but the stories I know of weren't made into stories. If there was a journalist at the police station asking around, then the police didn't care to report the incident to them or the journalist didn't care about the story. If they thought that and the other incidents I know about were newsworthy enough, they would've written about it I'm sure. Shit, they do enough asking around a police station when an English teacher breaks the law, why can't they do the opposite when Koreans do something against an English teacher? There's a shit load of incidents involving crimes against English teachers that are never reported Kushibo. There's no "could have" about it. Yes, you make some great points Kushibo, but due to the history of Korean nationals making death threats, I'll question the idea that the threats were created by an English teacher until it can be proven otherwise. And it's the journalists job to ask the police about crimes against English teachers/foreigners and report it, it's not my job to do their job for them.
"All I was asking was clarification about your intended meaning of "delivered," especially since JohnT was making the (valid) point that an attack on a foreign resident could have occurred without the general public knowing about it. It was a reasonable question." Generally speaking, a threat is a verbal declaration of an intention to perform an action -- it is NOT the action itself. Was this not clear even after I clarified my response to you? So what are you continuing to babble on about? Don't you think the whole damn Peninsula and much of Canada would have known if the leader of ATEK or one of its members was "murdered" by a psychotic defender of the Korean minjok? "Nice ad hominem attack there, KB." Nice way to not deny my charge against you. I was merely referring to the fact that at the top of this comment thread, you painted the Dong-A Ilbo article in question as "reasonably balanced," whereas I have argued that it was not and offered evidence to back up my statement. Feel free to disagree with me and show my why I'm mistaken. The fact of the matter is that you have left an easily traced online pattern of making arguments that often seem by many to be "apologist." Either stand by the arguments you make online, or risk being seen as a defensive crybaby when people decide to call you on it. "I would try wearing a suit and showing up at her place of work, if I were you..." Perhaps, but then again I know for a fact that most Korean journalists and editors are quite busy and often paranoid, and do not appreciate random people, especially big noses, just turning up at their offices. On the other hand, journalists in "the most wired nation in the world" could learn how to actually use the freakin' Internet.
Don't you think the whole damn Peninsula and much of Canada would have known if the leader of ATEK or one of its members was "murdered" by a psychotic defender of the Korean minjok? They didn't threaten just the president of ATEK or its members. They threatened other White people in Korea. you painted the Dong-A Ilbo article in question as "reasonably balanced," No, I didn't. I said I think this article does a decent job of presenting the ATEK point of view, both their criticism of AES's tactics and the death threat. The article brought up ATEK's complaints about stalking and harassment of people who've done nothing wrong, pointed out ATEK's contention that foreign drug arrests are much lower than for the Korean population, and highlighted the death threat, which I think is a fairly decent job of presenting the ATEK point of view about AES. In an interview with the LA Times the leader said, "foreign instructors have to submit to AIDS tests, which Korean teachers do not, and criminal background checks... Because of a few 'problem children' all foreign instructors are under suspicion, and this nationalist sentiment is not abating." Either stand by the arguments you make online, or risk being seen as a defensive crybaby when people decide to call you on it. So if I don't waste my time answering the potshots you take at me, that makes me a defensive crybaby for not responding? Wow.
The fact of the matter is that you have left an easily traced online pattern of making arguments that often seem by many to be "apologist." "Apologist" is an ad hominem epithet-in-lieu-of-substantive-argument facilely thrown at me by people who ignore or are unaware of a good portion of what I write. Aside from my signature Corea-versus-Korea post, another single entry that might refute that notion would be this one or this one. My list of "world-famous posts" in the side bar has plenty of posts critical of Korea. There are others, but I need to get up and earn a living this morning. That I take a more nuanced and less knee-jerk view in my criticisms or attempt to take in both sides of the story or especially my criticism of ATEK tactics or questioning the origins of the death threat doesn't make me an apologist.
""Apologist" is an ad hominem epithet-in-lieu-of-substantive-argument facilely..." Let's see, in response to my criticism of Kim Hyun-jin and her above article, all you can offer by way of direct response is to tell me to wear a suit and tie. Should I shuck and jive and say "Yes'm, massa" should she deign to offer me an audience? To my comments in this thread that I have received death threats in Korea and attempts to have me removed from my job by Yie, I hear only... the sound of silence from dear old Kushibo. If that's "nuance," then piss off to grad school where's there's actually a market for such BS, and leave the rest of us alone.
I don't doubt for a second that the KWK is "legit" (heavy sarcasm here) and not some fiction made up by a foreigner. The above commenters have mentioned attacks made on foreigners by Koreans without any specific details. While reading, I was reminded of the case of Matt Lamers, a editor with the Korean Herald, who was sitting on a park bench near Hongdae one evening and was first verbally abused for being a foreigner then attacked by a crazy knife-wielding psychopath. At the time, if Matt hadn't raised his arm to defend himself, causing severe injury to it, he could very well have been killed. There are nut jobs out there in Korean society (as in all societies) who are whipped up by irresponsible journalists, and decide to act. The Korean media is just putting fuel on their fires.
I write a small blog and I received death threats that I know are Korean in origin. If anyone is interested I would be more than happy to forward the material.
"I write a small blog and I received death threats that I know are Korean in origin. If anyone is interested I would be more than happy to forward the material." I don't believe you. Certainly you just making this up. I hope you are not doing anything you shouldn't be doing in Korea. Just mind your place, stick to teaching and don't cause any more trouble, OK?
I think Yie Eun-woong wants you to forward the material... or why not post it here?
of course because Koreans always handle things in a mature manner and the foreigners always lie. If the admin would allow I'll put the link up or just look up my name on the internet and read December
"Blackchild," don't mind me, I'm just having bad day... again.
blackchild, You can post the link if you like.
http://mikeisaphuckingniggah.blogspot.com/ this is a blog written about me that includes a ref to lynching. My response I'm 100% he is a Korean national living in Indy http://blackboyinkimchiland.blogspot.com/2009/12/retarded-homosexual-korean-stalker.html
You see children I am only interested in two types of conversation. Conversation A leads to sex either directly or indirectly. In Korea most girls speak some level of English so if she isn't willing to speak to you in English she probably isn't interested in you. Besides, I have found it infinitely easier to have sex with fellow foreign teachers than trying to get the kitty off of a Korean chick. Therefore, I have no sexual motivation to learn the language. Conversation type B leads to money in one shape or form and Korean really isn't a money language. I would do better learning Chinese or Japanese for monetary purposes. I applaud your honesty. Just a thought: your stalker/threatener may be from the same Korean family as the AES member who started KEK.
ok but you got the post wrong you are quoting from retarded korean ninja stalker when the post I was directing you to is from retarded homosexual korean stalker the post are totally different. The above quote doesn't mean anything in this contect |
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