The fun in Busan has made the Korea Times, although I’m not sure if “Expats Risk Expulsion for Satire” was the best headline that could have been chosen.
-
English Books on Korea... and More!
-
Visit My Brother's Film Review Site
Busan Nine in KT
This entry was written by Robert Koehler, posted on December 27, 2006 at 12:46 pm, filed under Ministry of Barbarian Affairs, Stupid Foreigner Tricks. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.
Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.
22 Comments
Guess this means that my days of volunteering at the local orphanage are now numbered………..Damn, I am really, really angry…………….
I have a question: What about being in a pool, dart or football league? These leagues collect dues, have bank accounts and give awards including cash. Is this against the VISA rules? How about a dart or pool tournament where there is an entry fee and the winners collect CASH for their efforts?
The Ministry of Justice declares that a foreigner giving a non-paid performance of music, acting, poetry, etc. or even volunteering at an orphanage without an official government permit is breaking the law. Punishment- fine and/or deportation.
Quote myself from Dave’s ESL:
Basically, this is just a face saving measure for the police and their “international crimes division”.
Based on false rumors and libel from some hater foreigners on a few forums, the police were convinced that if they investigated this performance and its performers, they would find a seedy drugs and sex scandal.
A foreigner started the rumor that the cast was doing drugs- the cast was piss tested based on this. Everyone was clean.
Their were 3 Korean female cast members. At least one of them was interrogated by police who accused her of sleeping with the foreign males in the cast. They asked her why she would be a sl*t for these foreigners. She was highly offended by this!
Well, the keystone cops couldn’t find any drugs or any sex. They’ve even gone so far as to bring in some audience members for interrogation.
All they’ve got is this silly “visa violation” charge. It’s not like these guys were running a private teaching racket and raking in millions!
Now, the cops have to save face by declaring performances and volunteering without government permit for each and every occurence- for which the applicant must pay for- to be a serious offense that can get one fined or deported.
They couldn’t find any real crime, so they had to legally declare minor infractions as real crimes.
Ridiculous!
This is a thinly disguised way for the police and government to keep tabs on foreigners and make sure they are not “disparaging” Korea the way that they feel the Busan 9 have.
I’m willing to bet they won’t go after sports clubs. They won’t “disparage” Korea unless they shamelessly outscore a local team.
A tip: if your foreigner sports team is playing a local Korean team, don’t win too big or you’re done for!
I now believe that declaring foreigners volunteering at orphanages illegal to be another face saving measure.
Koreans do not want us anywhere near local orphanages because of 2 reasons: 1) it’s embarrassing to them 2) they don’t trust us.
1) The state of Korea’s orphans and orphanages is a dirty little secret that the locals do not want us to have anything to do with. They don’t want us to see that these kids are stuck away and forgotten about by all but a few of the good hearted souls. For Koreans, the orphans represent something negative about Korea that they would rather not have foreigners know about. They don’t want us to know about these places or inform our friends and families about them. It doesn’t make Korea look like “numbah one”!
They would much rather have us getting involved with local cultural things and learning to love kimchi and traditional things and telling everybody else how “great Korea is and how much we love it”. Orphans and orphanages are not part of this promoting Korea idea.
2) Generally, the police and other government agencies are sure we are up to no good. They don’t trust us. They always think we are low class teachers who are only here for the money, to do drugs and to defile Korea’s purity. Why the heck would we want to volunteer- for free- at an orphanage? We must be up to something sinister!
At least that’s what some of them must think.
The vast majority of Koreans wouldn’t volunteer at an orphanage. What’s up with these weird foreigners wanting to do it? That must be on their minds.
Dynamic Korea, indeed!
Legally-employed foreigners must register in order to engage in volunteer activities, or face deportation or fines.
Assuming that the article has correctly quoted everybody, I believe that this interpretation of the law by the official in the Prosecutor’s Office is both unethical and illogical.
It is unethical because the government would be depriving disabled or underpriviledged people of valuable care. This will greatly lessen their quality of life. One wonders whether volunteers will trust themselves to a bureaucracy which may have no easy way of processing this new category of volunteer work that is in addition to normal legal employment.
This decision is also illogical, because contrary to the official, volunteering is not a change in the purpose of one’s stay, if one is present in the country as a legally employed person. Volunteering in such circumstances is not a purpose for which one comes here. If no money is involved, and no laws are broken, and if the volunteers are legally employed, volunteering ought to remain in the matter of personal morality. It appears that the government is encroaching on generally-accepted human rights with this interpretation.
Another reason this decision is illogical is because of the additional burden that this interpretation of the law places on the already overworked staff in the immigration offices.
I know a very humble, religious foreign woman who volunteers at an orphanage. I have now emailed her to advise her that the government appears to require registering.
This interpretation of the official at the Prosecutor’s Office will have real, unfortunate consequences for real people. It also impinges on the integrity of the Korean government’s commitment to basic human rights. I am sorry that the official at the Prosecutor’s Office has issued this interpretation, but I am optimistic that a reconsideration will be forthcoming.
“I am sorry that the official at the Prosecutor’s Office has issued this interpretation, but I am optimistic that a reconsideration will be forthcoming. ”
This is not an issue of legal interpretation or of prosecutors trying to go after foreigners (thought that may be involved). It is a face-saving move, but one gone awry. After the prosecutors said the people had done something wrong, they had to find something, anything to say. And they will never take it back now. They won’t prosecute it, and won’t prosecute stuff like it in the future, but they absolutely will never say that they were wrong in this case. Stubborn asses!
I buy your face-saving theory but I’m not sure I buy the “they don’t trust us” around orphans point of view. As far as I know, Korea is still active in international adoptions which sort of contradicts your stance.
Yes, Jodi, point 2 is a little bit out of left field, but it’s part of the thoughts I’ve been having.
I fully believe that point 1 is dead on accurate!
Korea has been known as a huge exporter of unwanted orphans. They are very embarrassed about this and totally prefer to keep it as hush-hush as possible.
Foreigners working closely with orphanages goes against this.
Let’s not get carried away about the orphans. I do know that a police station in Busan (Namcheon) was actually doing some volunteer work to help out some orphans. A friend of mine who has since left Korea, actually worked WITH THE POLICE helping out the orphans. The appreciated his help so much that the local police chief actually awarded him a plaque for his efforts to help the orphans.
On another matter I am familiar with the “International Crimes Division” as 2 years ago I was questioned by them. What I can tell you is this..
We all know how useless, lazy and pathetic the Korean police are (hope you guys are reading this!)
They won’t get off there arses to enforce the law. There is however an exception.
I was amazed that they have a whole floor of police who do try, who do take their jobs seriously, who do get off their arses. Who are these diligent hardworking professionals? They are the guys whose job it is soley to bust foreigners.
Bust Koreans, for stealing, endangering lives, nah can’t be bothered. Bust Foreigners for doing something harmless and they go all out.
These guys even go undercover hanging out at expat venues trying to ferret out information.
If that’s the law, it’s screwed up. Korea should ammend that, along with the backward ass Adultry law. But I don’t think it’s ever been enforced (for volunteering for orphanage). So I don’t think we’re suddenly going to seen a rash of arrested foreigners on the news.
You’re contradicting yourself again. If they want to cover it up ala North Korea, then all they have to do is outlaw any overseas adoption period. But as it happens, S.Korea is very open to overseas adoption that they’re known as the baby exporting country.
I wonder if the orphans actually have anything at all to do with this state of affairs. The police perhaps are simply suspicious that the foreigner is getting PAID to read poetry, play in bands, feed orphans, and do skits (while selling beer–Heh, that still makes me laugh). In that case the E-2 visa is breached.
Imagine that- a contradiction in Korea!
That almost never happens!
This be the land of Kontradictions!
Koreans are very embarrassed to be known as a huge baby exporting nation beacause it makes them seem 3rd world.
However, it is a “necessary evil” because these orphans are certainly not going to be adopted by Koreans.
They would certainly rather that we do as they do- pretend the issue doesn’t exist.
They’re also embarrassed about the orphans because one of the most cherished myths of Koreanness is the myth that no mother’s love is like a Korean mother’s.
No it doesn’t, you’re correct of course. It was just an example used by one of the officials to show that any kind of volunteering (not just in the orphanages) without permit is illegal.
They have every right to be embarassed about this kind of
record in the country. Wouldn’t you be too if your country was exporting its unwanted babies?
My guess concerning any regulations regarding volunteering at orphanages are that they are probably well-grounded as long as they are not singling out foreigners.
My hope is that when it comes to volunteering with children, unlike hakwons, not just anyone can do it for a whole slew of reasons including the risk of child abuse, sexual crimes or simply inexperience dealing with children which could lead to harm, even unintentional harm.
As for the US military’s tradition of having folks volunteer at orphanages, it might be worth mentioning that the military probably has a long-time relationship with specific orphanages in Korea and should something go wrong, it would be very easy to track down who the offender was and punish them whereas letting any old joe off the street into the premises would bring up a variety of risks.
In my opinion, as one who has actually been involved with local orphanages in Korea and who konws the director of one such institution, Koreans’ shame regarding its adoption history is a reality but I think those who have this shame are not the ones running the orphanages.
I’m not entirely sure about this, but doesn’t that constitute gambling, which would be illegal for pretty much anyone outside of a casino?
Volunteering would indeed not be “a change in that persons purpose for coming to Korea”, and the authorities have never said that it was. It is an Activity other than or outside of the purpose for which they gave that person a Visa to live here — for which official permission must be granted. I suppose that jodi is correct above that these restrictions have something to do with quality-control — if you try to get permission for an Activity that you are not judged qualified for — by your current visa-status, it may be denied.
Sometimes that has absurd results — i spent many years here as an English teacher, but then switched by Visa to an E-7 in order to work for the Ministry of Tourism; when i later applied for permission to teach an English class in the evening as a side-job, they told me that i was not qualified to teach English, being on an E-7…
Something that no one has mentioned here is that getting this special permission for “extra” activities costs a lot — they charge w60,000 and maybe more. That factor will probably result in less people doing volunteer work than otherwise would… not decisive, not just a discouraging factor.
Sanshinseon, I generally agree with your comment, but disagree with your first couple of sentences. The quotation in question was that volunteering constitutes “changing the purpose of their stay here.” I don’t see how that really makes any sense when the purpose of one’s stay in Korea is employment. The point is: what makes volunteering any different than going to the store or going on an errand for one’s friend? There is no money involved, no illegal employment at all, and no shady activity that would ordinarily go on. Volunteering cannot be reasonably classified as an activity outside the purpose of one’s residency permit. On the other hand, I completely agree with your final comment about the total disincentive to volunteer.
One Trackback
[...] According to The Korea Times, (via The Marmot’s Hole), volunteering by legally-employed foreigners is now deemed to be prohibited if the volunteering has not first been sanctioned by the authorities: Foreigners may face deportation or fines if they volunteer at orphanages or organize performances without reporting them to the authorities. [...]