What happens when you take a bunch of nice Korean girls and stick them in the New Zealand school system? This, apparently:
A group of Korean girls’ assault on a love-rival in New Zealand has shocked the Korean community there. A juvenile court in North Shore, Auckland, recently convicted six teenage girls studying at two top Auckland schools for assaulting another 16-year-old, according to the Sunday Star Times.
The girls, aged between 15 and 17, held the victim captive, also a Korean girl aged 16, for about an hour in February. They punched and kicked her and burnt her with cigarettes, as the victim was more popular at school and was a rival with one of the girls over a boy, according to the weekly newspaper.
[...]
Her mother reported this to police. The victim reportedly told her mother that she was too terrified to run away as she thought that they would come after her.
Hard to hide amongst the sheep, I guess. Of course, she could just do what all the other Kiwis do and emigrate to Australia.
Most of the assaulters have struggled to adjust to life in New Zealand, Sunday Star Times quoted John Cho, spokesperson for North Shore Korean community, as saying.
Well, I’m not sure what New Zealand is like, but I do know if this were the United States, such behavior would indicate they were adjusting just fine.
It is not uncommon for young people to “get out of control” when they move to New Zealand. New Zealand society is “too open” compared to a conservative Asian culture where school children prioritized studies and were denied romantic relationships, Cho said. He added none of the girls had been in trouble before they came to the country.
Kiwis, like crack dealers, are apparently a bad influence on children.
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66 Comments
Yeah, bullshut.
of course it’s bullshit. most korean high school students that go abroad to study do so because they got into too many trouble back home.
Does this mean new songs about “Fu**ing New Zealand!” are about to be chanted by the masses?
If that person wants to say that the incident should not be used to flame hatred against the Korean community (I hope it hasn’t been), why go about it in a roundabout manner that insults New Zealand culture?
Besides, it’s not as if bullying is not a big problem in South Korea.
http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/c...../158/8/737
Not to mention the constant glorification of gangster-like behavior in popular culture throughout New Zealand.
Screw that explanation. Unsupervised kids in a different environment with unfamiliar culture = trouble. Seoulmilk’s explanation is also very, very likely.
Once again a sense of personal resposnsibility does not exist for Koreans!
That “having a hard life and not being able to adjust well” is the excuse used for when a Korean does something bad while living overseas.
By that reasoning, we should be able to get away with all sorts of shocking, obscene & immoral behavior while getting settled in Korea. After all, it’s hard to adjust to life here!
It’s so f***ing ridiculous to lay the blame/cause on NZ’s “too open” society!
As pointed out in #4, I believe it was more loke these schools importing some Korean bullying & violence culture to New Zealand.
As pointed out in #4, I believe it was more like these girls importing some Korean bullying & violence culture to New Zealand.
*I really need to proof read!
#9,
Not really the point I was making. I was more aiming at debunking the apparent suggestion that bullying doesn’t exist in Korea and that the incident should be blamed on New Zealand culture. Fact is, bullying exists everywhere, including in Korea. Also, the girls are old enough to know it’s unacceptable behavior.
When you’re a Jet you’re a Jet.
#10 true
Personally, I think the North Shore Korean community may be too open in who they let serve as their spokesperson.
Look for this to be totally blown out of proportion by the NZ media who will piss and moan about the numbers of ‘low quality’ weygukin being brought into the country and how none of them respect Kiwi culture….NOT!
Corrupted by life overseas is a recurring theme in Korea. I recall a case about ten years ago of a young man who killed his parents after returning from his studies in the US because he needed money to pay off gamblign debts. There was all this hand-wringing about how he was ruined by permissive, violent American culture and studying overseas. Within a year an SNU grad also killed his parents for money. No attempt to link his deed with Korean culture or having been educated at SNU.
new zealand is one of the most racist places on earth but once again, we see the expat slam koreans for complaing about what he’s always whinning about.
classic.
#16 Pawi, you fucking moron, they are guests in NZ. They should be deported.
#15 After arriving in Korea 4+ years ago and dating an SNU student, I was told by multiple Koreans that all SNU graduates are psychos… at the time I had no idea that they didn’t mean a little bit crazy but more on the level of Hitchcock’s Psycho…
#16 Dumbass, read the OP’s last line. I think he’s slamming Kiwis and Hanguks alike.
whingey plodders like pawi remind me of why my wife is constantly telling me not to get into any business deal with a korean overseas…
it’s always “someone else’s fault” when they (or their children) do wrong…
@16, New Zealand is one of the most racist places on earth? I’m awe-struck. I was about to say that New Zealand is the least racist country on the planet, bar none. Kiwis are incredibly tolerant people.
Pawi, name a country less racist than New Zealand. The only country that comes close, IMO, is Canada.
The floor’s yours pawi.
‘Pawi, name a country less racist than New Zealand. The only country that comes close, IMO, is Canada…’
maoristan.
Pawi,
Grow up. Get a new hobby. Work overtime at your job. Just do anything so that the posts here aren’t cluttered with your race baiting.
…Whoever you are, your sock as a hole in it.
Correction, ‘has’.
Christchurch has some real problems, but the rest seems to be doing fine.
I would guess Holland is pretty frickin’ easy on the race relations!
Canada is not as racially harmonious as they would have you believe.
Ignore Pawi. All he does is race bait!
Must be the wine. Bloody Kiwis, and their bootleg grape-juice alcohol.
OTOH, there’s no such thing as school violence in Korea. None.
He tried racing cars, but they were going too fast.
Wha?? No bullying or school violence in S. Korea? wth? Granted, times have changed, but that ain’t ever gonna make me forget when principals had at least a hockey stick in their office to be up to par with the average nutty teen.
Pawi, and you lived in Kiwiland for how many years? Or did you pick up that observation from first hand experience whilst a tourist in New Zealand? Come on, tell us how much time you really have on the ground there. (A lot less, I’ll bet, than most of the expat whingers on these pages.)
The idea that this sort of rationalization is unique to Korean culture is pretty silly. Most cultures (I would bet) end up making such silly and unfounded assumptions when their kids act out of line (particularly in shocking ways). Remember Columbine? The kids failed to fit in… they were bullied… they listened to rock music…. they played violent video games… Sure, it’s a hokey, cobbled-together rationalization that doesn’t really stand the light of scrutiny (the sad fact of the matter is that some kids just end up doing rotten things), but it’s certainly not a uniquely-Korean phenomenon.
‘Ignore Pawi. All he does is race bait!’ benicio74
‘Once again a sense of personal resposnsibility does not exist for Koreans!’ benicio74
‘Just do anything so that the posts here aren’t cluttered with your race baiting.’ someguyinkorea to pawi
‘open eyes then you can see.’ sage pawi to those who throw around words like ‘race bait’.
‘Ignore Pawi. All he does is race bait!’ benicio74
‘Once again a sense of personal resposnsibility does not exist for Koreans!’ benicio74
)))))))
yeah, hoju, you ever talk to a maori about the never-racist kiwis? least racist country on earth? BULLSHIT! and to answer your question legit: thailand.
‘
I wonder what MH threads would look like if everyone ignored a certain commenter who harps on endlessly like a broken record about The Expat.
I wonder what MH threads would look like if everyone ignored certain commenters who harp on endlessly like a broken record about The Korean.
i think you folks SHOULD ignore me since it’s nothing to my purpose here. i’ll still be posting as long as marm allows me to do so.
you no likee what you read, you no readee, ok?
“I wonder what MH threads would look like if everyone ignored a certain commenter who harps on endlessly like a broken record about The Expat.”
Indeed. Add me to the list of commenters here who, from this point on, will disregard anything that miserable person writes. At one point in time, it occasionally had the capacity to be mildly amusing. No longer. Mean-spirited people - male or female, left or right, “expat” or otherwise - don’t deserve the time of day, let alone online responses to the juvenile hatred they insist on spewing out.
Being at Teachers College in NZ now,I think I can generally say that Koreans and Asians generally just don’t get involved in NZ culture.They form their little cloisters and maybe get in some skiing or siteseeing.There’s no question of them not adjusting to NZ because it simply never enters their head to.
What’s more,NZ is hardly first choice in an ajummas worldview.There’s always the chance that they send their kids to NZ simply as schools are happy to take their money.
It’s true that NZ is a racist country.Especially maoris towards each other.But this really has nothing to do with those student slags.
I guess I’m the first person to weigh in from on the ground in NZ. What is striking is as #14 suggests the lack of play the story is getting here. I’ve seen one story here on the web and nothing in the major Wellington paper.
RE Pawikirogi and Hoju Saram’s comment, NZ may do pretty well in comparison to a lot of Euro and Euro-colonized nations, but it’s far from perfect. NZ national culture (until the ’90s) wanted to believe that it had ben remarkably tolerant in dealing with bicultural issues, but you will get a lot of people –Maori and Asian immigrants who’ll tell you otherwise. A lot of tolerant people here, yes, but a lot of closeminded racists too.
Also, my immediate reaction was that I’ve seen plenty of stories of group beatings among high school girls over popularity/ rivalry over a guy in Korea, this is probably the first one I’ve seen here. Sure those involved might be having a hard time adjusting and NZ high school overall may be more open/average kids experimenting with sex and drugs at any earlier age, but the particular expression things took here seems to play off of a more Korean mode. Bullying/harrassment certainly exists here and can push kids into suicide, but it tends to be carried out differently.
Some people in every country are racist-of course the majority of Koreans are racist.
Koreans just can’t accept responsibility for their actions, it’s that simple.
Koreans bring their “hermit ways” to other places and expect the people of those placesto “understand them.” What do they expect.
Pawi, since your such a Korean patriot, why don’t you come over here and serve in the ROK military instead of being a hypocrite?
Oh, I already know the answer to that one. Never mind.
sorry #34– looks like I was writing while your comment went up…make that 2nd from Kiwiland.
What the rest of the modern world would find absolutely deplorable in this report is the fact that the writer seems to say the “relaxed permissable culture” of New Zealand sparked these girls inner demons. Is he trying to say that Koreans will become dangerous once introduced to the outside world because they cannot adapt to change? Reporting like this does more damage to the perception of Koreans in the eyes of the world than intended.
“Bullying/harrassment certainly exists here and can push kids into suicide, but it tends to be carried out differently.”
I wouldn’t say that. One incident that caused quite a scandal a few years back was very similar to the case in New Zealand. The victim, on top of being burnt and beaten, was also sexually assaulted by her female bullies.
I know the mother of one of the girls involved in this through my wife and can say that #1 & #2 are definitely right. The girl and her mother only arrived in NZ in January after having been in trouble in both the US and Korea. She lives with her Korean mother and attended a school which is 30% Korean and as such associated only with Koreans so it’s a stretch blaming NZ culture for her issues. It’s a real pity as her mother is a nice person but from what I can gather, her father works long hours and I think she may be acting up to get his attention.
As for John Cho, through my business I have met most prominent Koreans in the North Shore and have never come across him so can only assume he is some random guy trying to save face. This has pretty much been a non-issue in NZ - it only warranted a small article in a not -widely read newspaper.
thank you for your well written response, nambangui horangi.
‘Add me to the list of commenters here who, from this point on, will disregard anything that miserable person writes…’ huffed and puffed the idiot
#40,
Look, Pawi. You used to make horrendous spelling and grammatical errors to get people’s attention. You still can’t seem to use the ‘SHIFT’ key (I think that’s deliberate, though), but it’s fairly obvious that your vocabulary is not as limited as you used to want people to believe.
So, you had a lot of people going. Hats off to you.
So, tell me, who else is one of your socks? I’m guessing it’s one of your most vocal and virulent ‘antagonists’.
The pakeha arrived only a few centuries after the maori. In the history of human colonization, that is nothing. Certainly not enough to give the maori (who arrived themselves as colonizers from elsewhere) some sort of absolute birthright to aote-whatever.
The maori themselves are known to have colonized other islands and killed/enslaved their previous non-Maori inhabitants.
‘The maori themselves are known to have colonized other islands and killed/enslaved their previous non-Maori inhabitants.’
tu quoque. anyway, chatham island.
I don’t know what that means, but I stand by my point that the maori are not some innocents who had an absolute claim to the land. They too were colonists.
‘I don’t know what that means, but I stand by my point that the maori are not some innocents who had an absolute claim to the land. They too were colonists.’
chatham island would be an example of what you are saying about the maoris. two wrongs don’t make it right, dog.
With a brilliant non-sequitir, Dogbert derails the entire thread. Bravo.
Pawi is, methinks, comparatively intelligent, feigns poor English for the sake of more direct polemic, and has an awful lot of time on his hands, along with several of the other regular commentators here. Pawi, entertaining though you are, particularly as those you infuriate have a tendency to inadvertantly strengthen your wildly flapping hand clutching it’s collection of little strawmen- why not, if you have some legitimate arguments to make about racism etc, couch them in more advanced language, dog. See how long your ruminations on liberalism, colonialism etc stand up when you’re not hiding behind a mirrored caricature of what you mock. Tekkiteasy.
‘and has an awful lot of time on his hands….’
it’s funny how someone on the net accuses others of having too much time.
i think being out after 9 pm is wayyyyyyy too late. it’s an age thing.
Yes, this sounds about right. Asians are dangerous animals that are not safe when let out of the cages of their conservative Asian culture, and cannot be trusted to behave themselves outside of their hometown. Just look at Pawikirogi!
Look, it doesn’t really matter what the cultural, ethnic or racial make-up, it pretty much depends on parenting. Parents suck the world over. Shit in, shit out.
I’ve noticed that alot of my student’s parents seem way overreliant on me to teach their children morality. Children say they have a busy schedule and yet I see them out walking around at eleven at night, doing nothing but hanging out with their friends. It appears the parents haven’t a clue as to their children’s true schedule. These kids seem to be doing nothing but bad-mouthing and laughing at everyone who passes by, doing the odd amount of property damage, and staying away from studying. It was as much true in the States but not to such a late hour. Mothers and fathers here seem to fear their son’s or daughter’s alienation. Some day parents have to quit being their offspring’s enabler, grow up and be their parents. Certainly they have to take more responsibility, particularly as to their children’s whereabouts.
what’s the BS about Asian (Korean) culture denying teenagers romantic love? have a look around on a Friday or Saturday night in Seoul. Not much denial going on if you ask me.
The Auckland Korean community is trying to save face.
This incident proves yet again how Korean culture fails to instill a sense of maturity into its young people who instead are taught to always rely on a “higher authority” to control or direct them. Unfortunate incidents like this will always result when society grants freedom to make choices by one’s own judgment to individuals who lack the sense of responsibility to take ownership for their own actions and mistakes. As someone mentioned earlier, Korean society is infamous for teaching people “when you find yourself in trouble, always look for someone else to take the blame for you in order to save face.” I hate to be blunt about it, and I know there are maybe a very small number of exceptions, but anyone with a brain will admit that this characterization of Korean society is absolutely true and quite the norm.
Thus, kids like this who grew up in a “sheep herd” minded society such as Korea have no idea of how to handle responsibility and mature independence after having been schooled in an environment which teaches them that “someone who is of higher authority than you will always be there to manage you every day of your life so as long as you follow directions and don’t think for yourself, you will be fine.” You really can’t blame the kids for being confused after having spent their entire lives in an environment like this and then suddenly being thrust into a situation where they are their own bosses. Kind of scary to say the least. That’s why I always say to Korean colleagues that most Korean college and high school students are about 10 years behind in maturity to most students in the US. I think it would be better if Korean schools were to grant students more time to have part time jobs or know the true meaning of what being “responsible for one’s own actions” really means.
These girls who were bullying the other were probably thinking in the back of their heads, “What we’re doing is not anything too serious. Besides, if we are overstepping our boundries, teacher will let us know and punish us so it’s OK.”
Problem is that Seonsengnim isn’t around to wipe their asses anymore like in Korea.
#53 Absolutely right and as the new Waygook teacher at a High School in the ‘burbs, I’ll tell ya that there is no shortage of romantic entanglements in Korea at that age. I got students who smoke, drink, and if they smoke, they probably poke, too. And my students are all High School freshmen and already far more corrupted than I was at that age.
#53,
What do they think kids do when they go to a ‘DVD-bang’? Watch movies?
do they let kids into the DVD bang?
Spot on # 54. Nothing else to add, you said it all.
on the side….
Why does anyone read what Pawi writes ? If he was actually as stupid as he sounds, he wouldn’t have the where-with-all to figure out how to turn his computer on.
You gotta believe he is a chain wanker.
My Korean g-friend says this type of thing is common in Korea during middle school and early high school. She said the same thing happened where she went to school several times between rival cliques with the results usually being some kicking, punching and cutting the hair.
These girls were just sharing their culture with NZ.
“guess I’m the first person to weigh in from on the ground in NZ. What is striking is as #14 suggests the lack of play the story is getting here. I’ve seen one story here on the web and nothing in the major Wellington paper.”
Then why does your ID have an Australian flag next to it?
a monkey on a typewriter decides which flag goes next to which name. I’m not from the Oz, either, but I get that one beside my name sometimes, too. Maybe it’s the same AI system that scores your performance after singing in the noraebang.
#40
One incident that caused quite a scandal a few years back was very similar to the case in New Zealand.
I imagine you mean this one:
http://english.chosun.com/w21d.....10014.html
This one from December 2006 sounds very similar to the NZ attack, but they used cellphone cameras instead of cigarettes as weapons.
http://joongangdaily.joins.com.....id=2862242
Blaming it on transitional difficulties or the ‘openness’ of NZ society seems to overlook the fact that such behavior on the part of the girls is not uncommon in Korea.
Blaming Korean culture is almost as stupid as blaming NZ culture. I say “almost” because the girls are Korean. However, this sort of group violence is a problem in many, many countries. American educators have been talking for years about the rise of violence among girls. Just last week, a very similar story appeared in the US about six girls charged as adults after recording with their cellphones a beating of a classmate who was a rival for the affection of a boy. The group planned to post the video to Youtube.
I don’t imagine there are too many countries on this earth where bullies don’t exist or where young people don’t fight with love rivals.
#60 and #61 - I know the flags are small and that it’s occasionally random, but take another look. At least as it appears to me, the server seems to have me right: the Southern Cross alone. I promise you that I’m writing from Wellington. Cf. Hoju saram’s with the extra star. The one that looks off to my eyes belongs to Rothkowitz, #35 (Looks to me to have 5 stars, but he writes that he’s in NZ).
#40 - don’t know if you understood my “here” to be Korea? I meant NZ. I’m aware of several similar incidents to the one discussed here in Korea, but have not seen any too close to it in NZ. There have been other sorts of group drubbings, however, usually among guys, and some even put up on YouTube (there was a story like that here–i.e. NZ–last month.
Huh. Well, it must be random somehow: I get 4 stars in 36 and 38, but the post just above gets 5 on the flag….
“….a conservative Asian culture…”
They’re STILL saying this?
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[...] It is claimed that these Koreans in trouble in New Zealand for kidnapping, assault, and torture have not adjusted well to kiwi culture. I guess they adjusted better then this Korean did to American culture. More over at the Marmot’s Hole. [...]