I’ve always felt Korea to be a really safe place to live. The safest place I’ve ever been, in fact. With the possible exception of the North Koreans dropping a nuke on my house, I’ve never felt worried that something untoward might happen to me, even at night.
In fact, the only areas I feel the any unease — or at least unease as far as my wife is concerned — is in areas with a significant number of foreigners. Say, for example, the Itaewon neighborhood in which I live. And even that’s not so bad.
The Chosun Ilbo, however, reports that Korean woman are feeling increasingly anxious following a series of highly publicized crimes against women. Even more disturbing, it notes that the OECD has apparently listed Korea as a “danger country” in terms of women’s safety:
Korea is classified a “danger country” in terms of women’s public safety by the 30-member OECD. According to the OECD’s Social and Welfare Statistics for 2007, the homicide rate for Korean women is 1.7 per every 100,000 people, the third highest after the U.S. (2.7) and Iceland (2.2).
Iceland at No. 2? WTF?
Anyway, taxi cabs seems to be a spot of particular concern, especially at night.
Which brings me to a related article I spotted in the Sports Seoul last week. In a piece sensitively headlined, “The Area Around Ansan Industrial Park is a Paradise for Foreign Laborer Sex Crimes,” the Sports Seoul notes that Ansan’s Wongok-dong, home to thousands of, ahem, “undocumented Koreans,” is apparently a no-go area for Korean women:
If you go to Ansan in Gyeonggi-do, you can easily come face-to-face with exotic-looking foreign laborers. These people are the foreigners who work in the industrial park in Wongok-dong, and this place, called “Kosian Town,” has more foreigners than Koreans. And most of these foreigners are illegal aliens.
The problem is that the sexual crimes committed by these foreigners against Korean women has surpassed the danger level. Last year, Korean women reported no less than about 180 sex crimes committed by illegal aliens in the Ansan area. This is about one sex crime every two days.
Oh my.
Image from the Chosun Ilbo.
If you consider that there are women who haven’t reported out of shame, the number would increase. The case being such, it’s now hard to find women on the streets at night in Wongok-dong. This is because of panicked rumors of sexual assaults by foreigners and packs of foreign laborers seeking out Korean women.
This — along with this series by a KBS investigative journalism program — should serve to remind English teachers what irresponsible, xenophobic journalism really looks like.
Which is not, by the way, to suggest there isn’t a serious problem going on in Ansan — as fear-mongering as the story may be, the fact remains I wouldn’t let my wife walk around the place, and one has to expect some bad things in a community where most are residing illegally and many come from — to put this as sensitively as I can — cultural and religious environments where women are not held in particularly high regard.
{ 43 comments… read them below or add one }
Methinks:
OECD Report (which does NOT draw a line between domestic violence and stranger-on-stranger violence)
+
rampant and shameful but seemingly “socially acceptable” Korean-on-Korean domestic violence
+
xenophobia (fear of the unknown, mainly)
+
Korean yellow journalism
=
Stories like these.
“packs of foreign laborers seeking out Korean women” indeed. I’m surprised they didn’t draw fangs and lolling tongues on the three foreign men in the cartoon picture.
As for “packs of Korean men seeking out Korean women”, look no farther than your average back-alley street, around 1am, in one of the many “business entertainment” districts in Seoul.
However, since many/all of the owners, editors, and advertisers in and of the Korean newspapers are Korean men, it’s understandable to expect this kind of finger-pointing and blame-shifting to continue.
Edit : rather than “draw a line between”, I meant to say “make a distinction between”.
Call me a racist, but I’d feel much more comfortable with my wife wandering around a business district in Seoul at 1am than with her running the gauntlet past half of Karachi in Ansan at the same time of night.
I am in the business district of Seoul at 1:00 a.m. quite frequently, even the “business entertainment” district. It’s perfectly safe for men and women alike, so long as you don’t inadvertently insult the pride of a chaebol son. If there is a problem in Ansan, I am perfectly prepared to attribute that problem to its foreign population.
@ Robert
Racist.
…
Sorry, couldn’t resist…
Since I was 11 when I was last in Korea (and therefore did not get the full exposure to the… sexual crime aspect of the country ^^; ) … how bad is Ansan & the “business districts” of Seoul? Please use U.S. equivalent so that dumb-dumb here can understand. ^^;
Re #3 and #4:
Maybe, maybe not. However, it’s the complete lack of discussion about the most prevalent threat to Korean women’s safety – that from other Korean men – that irks me the most.
While stories like these may have some truth to them, their main purpose is to shift the blame.
Korean women can choose to not go to Ansan, but can they so easily choose not to go home, go to school, go to work, etc .,. ?
Indeed, a woman is far more likely to be assaulted (sexually or not) by someone she knows rather than by a stranger.
For the record, this problem is certainly not unique to Korea. It’s a shameful, quiet secret in most societies, but to a different degree in each one.
I agree with Carr above – things are what they are, and non-Koreans are also capable of committing crimes. But what’s with labelling Ansan as ‘a Paradise for Foreign Laborer Sex Crimes’? What, are they suggesting that foreign laborers pack up and go there to get their sex crimes on?
Re: #4 and to clarify my point about the “business districts”:
Please re-read my paragraph. I didn’t make any claims to women’s safety in the “business districts”. Rather, I wanted to turn the emotional and yellow journalism phrase “packs of … men seeking out Korean women” phrase on its head.
I speak from personal (past) experience and observation.
As for women’s safety in these areas, they are mostly safe. The local mafia/thugs and bouncers ensure that.
Can I (legally) buy my wife a can of mace here?
If so, has anyone seen where?
When Jesse Jackson made similar comments, mutatis mutandis, he was forced to recant.
No Justice. No Peace.
Quote Marmot – “one has to expect some bad things in a community where … many come from … cultural and religious environments where women are *not held in particularly high regard*” / ” …I’d feel much more comfortable with my wife wandering around a business district in Seoul at 1am than with her running the gauntlet past *half of Karachi* in Ansan at the same time of night”.
Robert, you are usually on the ball but you are somewhat out of line here. A lot of time is spent on Marmot’s Hole commenting on Korean portrayals of English teachers / GIs as drugged-up rapists, so we should then not ourselves smear the labourer-class with the same brush. And why pick out (Muslim Pakistanis) rather than (non-Muslim) Thais, Filipinos, Vietnamese, Sri Lankans, ethnic Koreans from China etc?
Given the long hours immigrant labourers work, 1am is probably the safest time in Ansan as the workers will be fast asleep – added to which most Pakistanis don’t drink, thus avoiding being caught up in alcohol-induced capers which others trap, erm, English teachers and GIs…
In my experience, Pakistanis in general hold women in no less high regard than Americans, indeed conversely they may look at the common sexualisation of the Western woman (porn, MTV etc) and conclude that women have a pretty low status in the West. Now of course Pakistani women don’t in general get out of the home much, and there are plenty of awful stories out there of mis-treatment (but there are everywhere), but it doesn’t necessarily mean that the suburbs of Ansan are now full of bloodthirsty wife-snatcher ready to whisk meek Korean virgins off to their village in the Punjab…
I tend to agree with commenters #1 and #11. Your fear for your wife among of all these foreign men is instinctive, Robert. The amygdalae (threat sensors) in your brain are literally hard-wired to pay more attention to foreign faces; for you in Korea, a cluster of non-Korean, non-Western faces would fire your amygdalae, especially if those faces were male. But is your fear grounded in reality?
Probably because of this:
I will grant, however, that this may simply be the Sports Seoul making anti-Muslim accusations unsupported by facts. To be fair, a lot of the Seoul Shinmun article looks exactly like an article that appeared in the Weekly Hanguk earlier this year, where a lot of the info was provided by a local civic group concerned with foreign laborer crime:
http://weekly.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200706/wk2007061113024637070.htm
No, I believe it’s usually whisking meek Korean virgins off to their apartment to be gang-raped:
Again, to be fair, I can’t find actual articles on the incidents mentioned, assuming for a moment that this Pakistani gang rape in Busan is a separate incident:
http://news.naver.com/news/read.php?mode=LSD&office_id=079&article_id=0000002408§ion_id=102&menu_id=102
as is the Iranian double-team rape of a mentally handicapped 21-year-old girl in Incheon:
http://news.naver.com/news/read.php?mode=LSD&office_id=001&article_id=0000838194§ion_id=102&menu_id=102
It’s possible that the incidents are merely rumors, as are the rest of the things mentioned in the piece. Actually, this might present an interesting project — calling up the Wongok-dong Police Station to verify if any of these things actually happened.
The Galbijim Wiki gives us an idea of the demographics in Ansan. Out of a total population of 723,075 persons, 698,819 (96.6%) are Korean and 24,256 are foreigners (3.4%). The largest concentration of foreigners appears to be in Danwon-gu where they make up a whopping 6% of the population. So… there goes the neighborhood, I guess.
The link: http://wiki.galbijim.com/Ansan#Demographics
Robert, please try to stick to the posts about old buildings. This one makes you look a fool.
swlee — You’re entitled to your opinion.
Sigh . . . look guys . . . it is also about street smarts. There are a lot seedy places in areas around Incheon but the women there are tough and will eyeball you if the street is fairly empty. I would venture that the Ansan area girls are a landing spot for girls from the country that lack city girl skills and connections. Let me tell you, as much as I despise my money grubbing cousins, if molested the culprit and all his roomates would be sealed in a brick wall.
Well, to be honest, a lot of male co-workers I had did come to S. Korea for the girls. Of course, at first they’d say things like sight seeing, culture, etc., but a few rounds of soju usually gave their #1 reason. I mean, to be fair though, in terms of scenery, architecture or jobs, you can get more out of say China for the former and better pay and service of the latter in Japan (excepting the NOVA incident). Only thing S. Korea has going for it is if you’re curious about the place, the food, and the proportion of good looking locals.
Pedantic community service announcement:
I met with him face to face.
We had a face-to-face meeting.
Thank you for your attention.
It’s disappointing but all too predictable that rather than looking at the issue at hand, whether it is deemed to be legitimate or not, the papers will deflect and play the all too common 외국놈 card. That way society can feel relatively at ease now that a convenient scapegoat has been found who can be easily singled out, avoided and ostracised all the more.
I’m not saying that there is a problem with migrant workers committing crimes against women, it seems there is. My issue is why so much discussion is giving to crimes against women perpetrated by non-Koreans when it is but a drop in the ocean compared with crimes perpetrated by Korean men.
Granted, Korea is an incredibly safe country for men. It seems to get into a situation here more often than not, you have to be incredibly unlucky or incredibly foolish. For women, I believe is deceptively safe. It appears incredibly safe on the outside but scratch under the surface and it’s not as safe as it seems. I believe it’s on a par however with most Western countries in terms of safety for women. I also believe on average Korean women are probably more likely to be the victims of abuse perpetrated by Korean men than Western women are in Korea.
However, I’ve known and heard many more ancedotes of (usually) fair-skinned, blonde-haired Western women encountering daily harrassment and occasional abuse on accounts of their appearance often due to the perps believing they are Eastern European ‘entertainers’ not worthy of any decorum, tact or civility generally accorded to Korean women. Some go to the extent of dyeing their hair dark and dressing like a Grandmother to avoid the daily comments, glares and occasional propositions and unwanted contact, to varying degrees of success.
We all know the West is a long way from perfect in this regard but at least the West fully acknowledges the problem at hand and works on it. Unfortunately, it seems Korea has not yet fully come to terms with the problem at hand and all too often seeks to deflect attention by finding convenient scapegoats.
It should read, I’m not saying that there is NOT a problem with migrant workers committing crimes against women, it seems there is.
#9 you can legally buy equivalent things. Hit up a hiking shop and look for bear repellent. Or just get a small can of bug spray or stain remover. The Itaewon military garb shops might have sprays. If you (or the person you are looking to get the mace for) can handle yourself, get a retractable baton.
as for this “hub of foreign sex crime” area…I can’t understand why they don’t just CCTV the entire area, install evening lighting with motion sensors, and install panic buttons every 100 meters. It’d send a serious message and that shit is cheap.
I’m not sure about that. 180 complaints of sexual assaults by illegal foreigners in just one dong seems like a lot — especially so considering that according to the piece, the majority of assaults are being committed by just one segment of the foreign community, namely, Muslims from Pakistan and Bangladesh. At any rate, I’ll be visiting the neighborhood police station tomorrow to confirm some of the numbers and incidents. Maybe the cops can put these incidents in context, too.
Yeah, it definitely is a lot and something that is alarming. It’s pretty much 1 incident every 2 days …
chiamatt’s idea of CCTVing and lighting up the area at night sounds like a good idea. Regular foot-patrol policing would probably help too.
the majority of assaults are being committed by just one segment of the foreign community, namely, Muslims from Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Eve Teasers!
The Muslims are raping Korean women because of Bush and his hateful policies, right?
Aren’t Bangaladeshis like ueberhappy Buddhists or Hindis or somesuch? So poor and so happy. Germans! please take note.
Koreans can buy women in any of those aforementioned “business districts” whenever they feel like.
Foreigners can’t.
I was at the Yeoksam annma town with a friend one night and a foreigner was asking the 삐끼’s where he can “have a good time” with beautiful Korean girls. Since the 삐끼’s don’t speak a word of English, my friend told the foreigner he “can’t buy p***y ’cause he’s a foreigner, since the annma h*’s won’t f**k foreign d**k.”
He looked crestfallen.
I can assure you that’s not the case.
“I can assure you that’s not the case.”
For reals? I once took a foreign friend to CNN (Chongnyangni) and the ladies there didn’t want to get it on with him…
Where can I take a foreign friend, for future reference?
And the ladies in the back alleys of Itaewon are too fugly, I hope for god’s sake no foreigner ever gets desperate enough to get it on with them.
And how do you reply to a previous comment, with the line in front of the text and everything?
“According to the OECD’s Social and Welfare Statistics for 2007, the homicide rate for Korean women is 1.7 per every 100,000 people, the third highest after the U.S. (2.7) and Iceland (2.2).”
Strange..Is there a link to those statistics?
“The problem is that the sexual crimes committed by these foreigners against Korean women has surpassed the danger level.”
ah yeah “the danger level”, that’s a problem. Those guys need to drawback a bit and only rape a few Korean women a month.
Look at trackback #2 below… that’s Malagasy (after some research), how random?
How on earth did this thread get picked up by someone in Madagascar? Maybe there’s a hidden community of labourers in Ansan looking to whisk meek Korean virgins off to Antananarivo and Tamatave.
Those of you who seek to be apologists for Muslim hate-crimes against women must either be Muslims or dhimmis.
Heck, even in Itaewon, the only unfriendly words or glances I’ve received in Korea have been from readily apparent followers of a certain misogynistic cult of pedophiles (look up “Kandahar” and “Beslan” for many recent examples)… and that from folks staying at the same hotel…
And may I say that counts a lot of time spent shopping, eating, walking, and talking around points from Incheon to Yoido to Downtown Seoul and from Guri to Pyeongtaek… More than 75% of the time I was the only Caucasian face within shouting distance… Lots of traveling on subways, buses, and taxis.
By the way, we already know about “al-taqiyyah”… We want to tell you about how to get to heaven based on the blood of Jesus; but if you think lying to non-Muslims and wearing Semtec(tm) sneakers is the way, well, we hope you find wisdom before it’s too late.
#29: “..Aren’t Bangaladeshis like ueberhappy Buddhists or Hindis or somesuch?…”
Until 1971, Bangladesh was formally known as East Pakistan and was united politically with the predominantly Muslim state of what we now call Pakistan (which was then called West Pakistan). The 1971 war between “Pakistan” and India involved the Indians helping the Muslim Bengalis of East Pakistan to achieve independence from the political domination of the Bangladeshis’ fellow Muslims of West Pakistan (who, though co-religionists, were of different ethnicity).
In 1947 when India and Pakistan were formed from British India, the western part of British administered Bengal province choose to separate from the predominantly Hindu eastern portion (which went with India). The movie “Ghandi” gives a hint as to the violence and ethnic displacement which accompanied this change.
A Bangladeshi in Korea is most likely to be a Muslim Bengali. 98 per cent of the population of Bangladesh is “Bangla” (Bengali), 83 per cent is Muslim, according to wikipedia.
I’m looking forward to Robert’s findings at the police station. If there really have been 180 registered complaints of sexual assaults committed by foreigners in just a single dong, it would suggest a very legitimate problem.
“If there really have been 180 registered complaints of sexual assaults committed by foreigners in just a single dong, it would suggest a very legitimate problem.”
I don’t believe single dong could withstand so many sexual assaults (are there any other kind?), although over what time period is a factor.
And can we please refrain from making racist comments about south asian peoples.
It looks like Korean women aren’t only at risk here in Korea.
Today’s Hidden Slave Trade -NYT
Try JJ Mahoney’s at the Hyatt.
Again, xenophobia at it’s best me thinks. If a story like this was published about Korean males sexually assaulting non Korean females in a national newspaper in the US or somewhere else, that place would be deemed 100% racist. Of course Koreans aren’t being racist, they’re just protecting their country. It’s a form of patriotism you know. I guess there’s no point in bitching, Korea isn’t going to change.
“I don’t believe a single dong could withstand so many sexual assaults”
Quote of the month!
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