Comments on: English Teacher With Forged Degree Gets Prison Term

By: London Korean Links / Fakes and curruption in art and academia

London Korean Links / Fakes and curruption in art and academia — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 11:31:29 +0000

[...] ever, there’s a lively comment thread at the Marmot’s Hole (16 [...]

By: Brendon Carr

Brendon Carr — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 10:35:02 +0000

This uncertainty must explain why it’s been so long and OJ is still looking…

By: gbnhj

gbnhj — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 09:52:24 +0000

Because, as a dark-skinned man who, as Wikipedia describes him, ‘is known for his meticulous preparation’, Vijay Singh has made pinning this on Tiger somewhat more difficult.

By: Brendon Carr

Brendon Carr — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 09:36:18 +0000

As for OJ Simpson, if you consider that witnesses placed a six-foot tall black man at the scene, and that he’s spent all his time since the verdict scouring the golf courses of America looking for the “Real Killer”, one must ask why the police haven’t yet questioned Tiger Woods.

By: craig

craig — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 02:20:01 +0000

Dizzying hypocrisy.

In all honesty I wish the government would get a bit more strict on the illegals pushing English, but the hogwon industry fundamentally needs these elements to keep the costs down and to legitimizes the ’special circumstances’ of their (the hogwons) breaking contracts. It is a self licking ice cream cone. Both needed to be cleaned up for any real change.

By: Brendon Carr

Brendon Carr — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 10:45:54 +0000

How often have you read about a Korean language institute owner being held accountable in any way, shape or form. Yes, this is a civil law matter, but still you don’t see the government taking much action to correct the situation.

Actually, civil law is useless in hagwon-teacher disputes. This means stop calling me! Enforcement of Korean labor law is undertaken by district labor offices of the National Labor Relations Commission — which offices have quasi-police power to undertake investigations, refer matters to the labor tribunal for “adjudication”, and to transfer matters to the public prosecutors for criminal charges. It’s the criminal charges — and only the criminal charges — that hagwon owners fear.

As for why you don’t read about it, in general most criminal matters are secret. Only the really sensational and salacious ones get leaked to the press. Ordinarily, though, one cannot discover the criminal background of a private individual under any circumstances.

By: gbnhj

gbnhj — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 08:47:51 +0000

Don’t worry too much about the Dongguk students, Creo. I’m fairly certain that the university will create an administrative waive for these students; if necessary, they can create a program for them, waive fees, claim that they completed all requirements for receipt of credit, and call it a day. The students will really be okay.

By: Creo

Creo — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 08:24:14 +0000

“I wonder if the hagwon owners could be held accountable in the same ‘Al Capone” sort of way if it can be proven he/she knew about the forged degree (of course they could always say they didn’t know)?”

Koreans are reported to the Korean Ministry of labor for breach of contract (in regards to English instructors) on a weekly, if not daily, basis. This has been going on for decades now.

How often have you read about a Korean language institute owner being held accountable in any way, shape or form. Yes, this is a civil law matter, but still you don’t see the government taking much action to correct the situation.

However, the government seems more than willing to deport or imprison English instructors who don’t follow the rules. The contribution an English instructor makes to Korean society must not be considered the same as that of the many “Chairmen” that have been able to avoid justice in the past few years on these grounds.

By: SomeguyinKorea

SomeguyinKorea — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 06:44:16 +0000

#20 and #21,

Thanks. That’s what I figured was going on, but since the article was so poorly written, I had to ask.

By: fencerider

fencerider — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 04:07:18 +0000

Brendon,
I wonder if the hagwon owners could be held accountable in the same ‘Al Capone” sort of way if it can be proven he/she knew about the forged degree (of course they could always say they didn’t know)?
Also, the signing of the ‘verification of degree’ paper is fairly new. Maybe its good if the courts start issuing more strict penalties for those caught. Eventually, maybe people will get the idea. Just think about what kind of penalties that fraud and misrepresentation of documents carry under the current patriot act in the US. 6 months is a cake walk comparatively.