English teacher hiring practices under fire after Ramsey break

Well, the Korean media today did a collective, “Holy shit, that freak taught in KOREA,” with most papers running stories on it.

But before we discuss that—and the possible fallout—we have this rather bizarre piece of info pertaining to the JonBenet Ramsey crime scene, courtesy CNN:

The cord around her neck was looped around a 4 1/2-inch wooden “stick” with the word “Korea” printed on it in gold lettering. A portion of another word on the piece of wood was not legible.

Maybe the NIS did it.

Anyway, back to Mr. Karr. According to Yonhap, the Korean Justice Ministry can’t yet confirm whether the dude in question actually taught here. In a briefing today, the head of Korea’s immigration bureau said that without specific information, namely a passport number and a date of birth, it can’t say for sure whether the man suspected of killing Ramsey came to Korea.

It also said its refusal to answer confirmation requests by foreign journalists was standard practice to protect individual privacy.

According to a source at Incheon International Airport, however, an individual by the name of John Mark Karr entered Korea three times between 2001 and 2005. On all three visits he came without a visa, meaning he could stay no more than 30 days. Of course, the source was unable to confirm whether the guy in question is the same one under arrest in Thailand.

According to the Seoul Shinmun, however, Mr. Karr allegedly taught at the I&S Language School in Bongcheon-dong, Gwanak-gu for two months starting in January 2002 (note: I’m really surprised an official would release the name of the school like that). This information was provided to the paper courtesy Kim Seon-tae, an official with the Dongjak Office of Education. Although according to Yonhap, Kim qualified this by saying he was unsure if the guy in question is the same one everyone is talking about.

Needless to say, this is prompting calls to strengthen Korea’s ability to keep out foreign sex offenders and improve the standards for hiring foreign teachers.

The Chosun Ilbo noted that the Korean government is unable to prevent sex offenders from entering the country because it lacks information sharing arrangements with other countries. The Chosun cited as an example a May sexual assault that took place at an English camp in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. Would have been a good example, too, if only the “American assistant instructor” cited by the Chosun hadn’t been a Korean national.

The Segye Ilbo, meanwhile, criticized the nation’s school for hiring foreign teachers without asking any questions first. In particular, they criticized some hagwons for purposely hiring unqualified English teachers in order to save money.

In June, a 26-year old Mr. A came knocking at an English hagwon in Seocho-gu. He claimed to be an American with a degree from an American university and lots of experience teaching English. Impressed by his dress, his fluent English and the fact that he wasn’t asking for as much money as other instructors, they hired him without confirming his background. Mr. A taught an hour and a half everyday and received 2 million won a month (!). After the immigration officials came a knockin’, however, it turned out our lucky English teacher was a) Nigerian, and b) NOT a college graduate.

And here I was thinking black folk couldn’t get jobs teaching English in Korea. Frankly, the guy should have been deported just for making 2 million a month working an hour and half a day, even in Gangnam.

Anyway, according to the law and the Segye Ilbo, foreigners need to get an E-2 visa to teach at the country’s hagwon, and they need to present a 4-year diploma to their school.

Many teachers, however, enter the country on tourist visas, and they lie about their nationalities and academic credentials.

In October of last year, 69 foreigners were busted and deported for teaching English with forged degrees from universities in English-speaking nations.

According to Seoul immigration officials, about 240 unqualified foreign teachers were busted in Seoul alone last year. This year, some 20~30 teachers are busted a month. Even more concerning, there are even cases of individuals with criminal records getting jobs teaching in Korea.

Part of the problem, according to the Segye Ilbo, is that even if such teachers are caught, there’s is little the authorities can do to punish them. In most cases, the teachers and the schools that hire them are fined. Foreigners believe that even if you’re caught and deported, you still come out ahead as long as you’ve been working for over a year.

An official with one hagwon in Jongno told the paper that students prefer foreign teachers, and hagwons often find that the teachers they bring over in a pinch are unqualified. The schools, however, feel that the punishment is light enough to justify the risk.

Of course, the netizens have something to say about this. Over at online issue discussion site Buchaejil, there’s an article on the netizen fury over low-quality English teachers and the Korean women who love them.

Pointing to the shock many felt at learning that the prime suspect in the Ramsey killing may have taught children in Korea, the writer noted that netizens were outraged that even murderers can apparently get jobs teaching in Korea and are calling for employment conditions for native English speakers to be strengthened.

The article pointed out that questions about the behavior of native-speaking English teachers in Korea have been raised for some time. Hagwon officials complain that they are going crazy because of the behavior of their foreign teachers.

It noted that not so long ago, a “native speaking instructor” at an English camp sexually assaulted a student, but hagwon officials say such incidents happen all the time.

According to a netizen familiar with the problem of decadent foreign teachers, the foreign instructors, who apparently think of Korean women as sexual playthings, are only part of the problem. Also problematic are Korean women with a weakness for foreign guys.

The netizen said there are many instances of foreign teachers seducing women at nightclubs and the clubs of Hongik University by telling them they’ll teach them English.

And just to show you that the ghosts of English Spectumgate are still with us, the piece treats readers to a selection of choice photos from the scandal, including ones I hadn’t seen yet.

The article cites an assortment of netizen comments about foreign English teachers and the chicks that chase after them. My favorite however, was this one by an individual going under the online ID of asleychung:

The place you’ll find a lot of low-quality English teachers is the JJ Mahoney nightclub of the Seoul Hyatt Hotel. It seems even moneyless, beggar-like English teachers can get in. They all get together to hit on Korean women. Whart’s worse, also going there are garbage-like kyopo from Canada who come to Korea because they can’t get jobs back home. To make a living, they teach children English in places like Budang and Pyeongchon, but at the club, they act like big shots intimidating and seducing the women who come there.

God bless the netizens—they teach you something new everyday.

In the wake of the break in the Ramsey case, netizens are calling for regulations on the hiring of foreign teachers to be strengthened. One netizen decried how foreigners don’t appear subject to background checks when hired as teachers. Another complained of all the “American beggars” coming to Korea to teach low-quality English and fraternize with local women, and called on the government to strengthen its qualification requirements. Still other netizens complained of all the low-class foreigners teaching English in Korea.

Some people are taking things into their own hands. The Korea Foreign Teacher Recruiting Association has released a blacklist, of course, and some patriotic netizens have banded together over at Naver.com to form a movement to expel illegal English teachers.