Really? Better immigrants at least? This par -

If foreigners were toiling long hours in green groceries, delis, and dry cleaners (while invariably getting robbed or being sued for millions of bucks for lost pants, as the case may be) and generally minding their own business, then there would be little to speak of. But obviously foreigners in Korea are so NOT like, say, Koreans in the US.

- reads like a typical korean doctrinal mantra: I am a Noble Victim. Local victim of foreign immigrants in Korea. Immigrant victim of foreigners in foreign countries. Always a victim, never a catalyst.

(BTW do you know what the word “invariably” means? I’m assuming it was a typo)

“…all I’m saying is that under no circumstances should Korea be importing large numbers of foreigners .”

Actually, you said a lot more than that. Don’t play dumb. I suggest you go back and read your own posts again.

I agree that the foreigner guest worker program was an extremely bad idea. I hope they stopped doing it.

What do you want me to say? That Korean bosses are unscrupulous, that Koreans don’t like foreigners, that the media may seem xenophobic? I completely agree. Any more extremely dead horses you want to beat?

And as such, all I’m saying is that under no circumstances should Korea be importing large numbers of foreigners (ie, trainee programs or any other kind of immigration) into the nation and not expect any trouble.

What are you talking about?

CJ Media sounds like it’s staffed by 386 socialists with an anti-foreigner agenda.

Perhaps this is the face of the real war that does not use rockets and bombs but a war of minds; a soft war waged with media content and the control of such.

Remember the Maine and ask yourself who would profit from influencing the opinions of Koreans against things “not Korean”.

Whose talking about illegals? The majority of cheap labor imports are technically legal - more often than not it’s the Korean bosses who are acting illegaly. That’s nothing new - the U.S state department even has a travel warning for those contemplating coming to Korea to work. From personal experience, I can tell you that %90 of the bosses I’ve had here have screwed or attempted to screw me. I can’t even imagine what the lot is for the industrial trainees from developing countries, whom Koreans treat like shit.

If foreigners were toiling long hours in green groceries, delis, and dry cleaners (while invariably getting robbed or being sued for millions of bucks for lost pants, as the case may be) and generally minding their own business, then there would be little to speak of. But obviously foreigners in Korea are so NOT like, say, Koreans in the US.

Wouldn’t the world be a better place if everyone was Korean, and there were no irrascible brown people about?

Could it be that, rather than the Korean immigrants to the U.S. behaving so admirably (and against such overhwelming odds) when compared to immigrants in Korea - could it be that, in fact, the people of the U.S. simply treat their immigrants better than Koreans do?

In other words, does the source of the problem lie with the hosts, rather than the guests?

You’ve unwittingly summed up the problem with this comment: But obviously foreigners in Korea are so NOT like, say, Koreans in the US.

The very Korean idea that Koreans are somehow better than other ethnic groups, or, inversely, that other ethnic groups are inferior, and therefore fair game for exploitation. That’s the problem here: Koreans using and abusing cheap labor and crying when the cheap labor doesn’t act like a docile underclass.

Also, this ridiculous “90% are criminals associated with drugs or violence” will probably have the opposite effect of making the women more curious about the wild outlaw foreign guys in their midst.

I think 90-95% of local Ansan, CheonAn residents would not care about foreigners in their community.

This is probably an obvious truth. The more interesting question raised by this thread is “Are anti-foreigner themes becoming more common in media and if so why and who is responsible for such?”

As “ddaengjoong” wrote in #5, the O’live network on cable is promoting a program that is blatantly accusing most English teachers here as being criminals:

“Of the country’s 40,000+ native speaker (language) instructors, would you believe that approximately half are here illegally? And of those, it’s said that more (than) 90% are criminals associated with drugs or violence.

국내 4만여명의 원어민 강사 중 절반 정도가 불법이라면 믿을 수 있겠는가. 그 중 90퍼센트 이상이 마약이나 폭행 등의 범죄자들이라고 한다.

Consider that the “O’live” network is owned and run by CJ Media and targets mostly women in their 20’s and 30’s, the very sector that influence spending and will have a prolific influence upon society. Additionally, CJ began producing its own local programs or content, thus is the source of the program mentioned above. (for reference, read this article.) Casually reading of these things is enough to make me wonder just what motivation is behind this sort of activity and where it originates. CJ Media is very deliberate in what they do; they are a very modern company.

Immigration by Fred Reed

Nice to see you’re now giving Mr. Reed credit for his words instead of passing them off as your own.