One English teacher had a rough time at Incheon International Airport when returning from his vacation in Malaysia. Or so he claims:
Then they framed me: They wanted to test my hands for “drugs.” After two tests that came back “negative,” they told me to hold my passport before the third test, to which I naturally refused as that would leave “residue” on my hands. After trying to force the passport into my hands, they simply swabbed the passport, my watch, then my fingers and walked out, while I was screaming to my roommate, “They are framing me! Look! Help!”
Of course, they returned to tell me I had drugs on my hands as well. We were horrified. Next, I was stripped to my underwear and told if I had to use the bathroom, I would need a chaperone. Little did I know this chaperon would stand in front of me, fighting the stall door open, and watch me defecate while chatting on his cell phone, laughing and pointing at me. It was the most humiliating moment of my life, not to mention the most uncertain.
I was then led back into the room, where my roommate was waiting, as they left him alone this whole time. They told me, verbatim, “All English teacher use drug on vacation, we know it. We cannot trust you, you do drug.”
Astonished at this generalization and lack of chance to prove my innocence, as I do not use drugs, I simply stammered they must test my blood or urine. To this suggestion, they refused. In their frustratingly broken English, they told me I could not be released from the airport, to which I replied “But I live in Korea.” They responded, “You must go to home country!”
They were threatening me with deportation, flat-out. I was unable to speak or to defend myself. Everything I said was met with “NO” and “English teacher do drugs.” And then it was over. He told me not to use drugs next time I go on vacation and to leave. And I left, disgraced and humiliated.
Read the entire story on your own. Frankly, the story is so bad I’m a bit skeptical of the description of events. But who knows.
This guy apparently had a rough time at the airport, too… although judging from his post, me thinks he probably would have been better off staying in Taiwan.
(HT to Brian)
{ 102 comments… read them below or add one }
Both stories seemed implausible, especially the second alleging blatant racism by Korean immigration officials at passport control. Returning home to Korea from abroad, I observed on a few occasions Korean immigration officials changing the designation of a line from “Korean” to “foreigner” to reduce long lines. There was no handpicking of people in the foreigner lanes.
Robert – Thanks for the link… My week only got worse after that blog. I might be in Taiwan again soon.
Sonagi – I’ve always had positive experiences at Inchon before, so I was surprised to see what I did. But I was disgusted by that (admittedly, she was just one person) woman’s actions.
The second guy sounds like a whining little prick, but I can easily see the first one happening. There’s a crackdown happening in my area which seems to consist of police choosing random foreigners to interrogate, falsifying tests (faster and cheaper than actual tests), and screaming at people in the hopes that they will eventually confess. Of course, this presupposes that foreigners are guilty.
The second story seems implausible to me. I’ve gone through the Koreans-only section at Incheon a few times now. I didn’t see any handpicking, either, given that some Filipinos ended up going through before I did on a couple of occasions. As for customs, I’ve only been stopped by them once. I had gone to Japan for the weekend and only had a small carry-on with me. For some reason, they wanted to scan it, but once that was done, I was free to go. I’ve never really had much interaction with Korean Customs other than in handing them my declaration form and going out through the green channel. Nor have they given me any problem.
The second story talks a lot about being stared at and hearing the word “foreigner” a lot. Recently, when I went to Beijing, I went to sign it at my hotel. As I was filling out the paperwork, it became obvious to me that the desk clerk was staring at me while I was writing. She spoke really good English, so I was a bit surprised by this. Anyhow, it turned out that she really had never seen anyone write left-handed before and was just sort of amazed by it.
I’m not sure if China is still doing this, but the checks for the H1N1 virus were pretty irritating when I last visited China. Before we got on the airplane, the airline (China Eastern) checked our temperatures and then let us on. Then, we were given the lengthy new form from China’s quarantine service to fill out in addition to all of the other forms. Finally, when we arrived at the gate, the quarantine service people boarded the aircraft to check our temperatures yet again. After exiting the aircraft, a third set of quarantine officials checked our temperatures again and then stamped our health declaration forms, which we in turn handed to yet another official who was thankfully not armed with a thermometer. Mind you, we handn’t even gotten to passport control yet by that point!
Whilst not in the same league as the man posted about I’ve had a recent experience of racial profiling which irritated me.
I took the ferry from Yeosu to Geomundo. When buying the ticket you fill in a little form which has your ID or passport number, as well as a phone number and your name. My wife tells me that this is so they have some information on hand in case the boat sinks. I have no problem with this. (I’ve taken boats from Yeosu before and not had to do this, so I guess it’s a recent thing, but again, I have no problem with it)
Anyway when boarding time came there was a mad rush to the entranceway. My wife and I got in line with the rest of the crowd and progressed to about 2m away from the door connecting the terminal to the entranceway to the boat. At this point the policeman on duty came and asked me to come with him back to the ticket desk. I asked why and he just said I HAD to. I went in a very annoyed mood; I’d lost my place in line! When I got there I asked why I’d been singled out. He explained that as I was a foreigner they needed to take my details down, and requested my ID or passport number, name, phone number etc. – information I’d already given along with everyone else! When I asked further as to why they wanted this I was told that it was because of the 2012 Yeosu Expo. They wanted to know just how many foreigners were knocking around and their travel habits or some such. This annoyed me so much. They ALREADY HAD my details and there were Asian foreigners in line as well but they hadn’t been visually identified and so weren’t dragged out of the line. It was, at the very least, embarassing to be pulled out of a line by policemen. Everyone else around had a good stare and were wondering what crime I’d committed. I hope Yeosu wises up that ‘foreigners’ don’t like being treated like this before the Expo finally comes around.
On another note, there is another place I was once discriminated against purely because of my non-Koreanness. In Ilsan, just across from the entrance to the “Western Dom”(sic) is a shooting range. With real guns and everything. I went there with my (Korean) wife, a Canadian friend and his (Korean) girlfriend. We admired the mural outside of the African-American gangsters waving guns and went in. We chose the guns we wanted to shoot from the menu, which conveniently had the prices written as well. When we went to the guy to ‘order’ he told us that because my friend and I were ‘tourists’ we had to pay double. We tried to explain that we’d lived in the country for years and were most certainly not tourists but he was having none of it. The fact that we weren’t Korean meant we had to pay tourist prices, which are precisely double the amount marked on the ‘menu’. We left without a fuss because it was a room full of adjossis with big-ass guns, but we were angry. Oh so angry.
(My apologies for sticking (Korean) above in front of “wife” or “girlfriend”; I don’t usually feel it necessary to point this out but I thought it added a touch more relevance to the encounters. If it was irrelevant I wouldn’t have mentioned it^^)
As my ex used to say to me when she got wound up, “Fucking white, go your home”
She didn’t realize that Carlton Banks, and the whole Banks’ family for that matter, though rich, were in fact black?
This must be the parallel universe of the English teacher. Inability to adapt messes up their head and the outlook in life.
cm, do you have a semblence of a life somewhere beneath that bitterness you somehow acquired toward white English teachers in Korea? Talk about a highly specific form of neurosis, you appear to be slip sliding into your own uniquely solipsistic disassociated state of anger and persecution.
On a good day, that is.
Or it could be that Immigration and Customs Agents in every country are just one level above mall cops. I once spent 45 minutes at JFK Customs patiently trying to explain to two very, um, slow Customs agents why the measly $5,000 painting I’d purchased in Paris a year earlier was exempt from Customs duty as a household effect. It just had to be declared.
On the other hand, at least they didn’t strip-search me.
DLB
Ummm, talk to any Arab-looking person post-9/11 trying to enter any major American airport. This STILL happens today!
This sucks, no doubt, but it just sort of happens.
Aren’t you glad you aren’t an Arab-looking person, t_song? It’s a no-win situation, isn’t it, this profiling? I dispise anti-Arab prejudice, but then again, I do treasure national security, so what to do?
i do not believe the guy’s story and when i read it in the korean times it sounded more fake and just another foreigner attempt to cause trouble. he just didn’t like being the one selected to be searched so he embellished the event to look good to the rest of the NET community.
I’m inclined to believe any story of woe befalling English teachers these days. Why? Because a few weeks ago, while I was on vacation, IMMIGRATION CANCELED MY FUCKING VISA. No reason, no notification. When I returned to Korea, they told me I was now a tourist. Next time you read a story about how unqualified English teachers are, remember how Korea treats even their qualified teachers.
I’ll likely be harping on this for another month or so.
Did you have a single-entry visa by any chance?
Should have just made as much noise as possible, while staring the guy dead in the eyes with a grin of fiendish delight. Perhaps play with your balls a little too.
mateo:
As it happens, I did indeed have a re-entry permit. But apparently it wasn’t the right re-entry permit. Which, of course, would have been fine if the asshole at the exit checkpoint had said anything, ANYTHING at all to me about it. Then I might have been able to actually do something. Learning Korean doesn’t do much good if nobody talks to you.
Perhaps he didn’t speak English or Korean. A bit odd for an Immigration official, but not the oddest thing I’ve encountered here. Even then, if he had merely kept my ARC as he’s supposed to, it would have at least tipped me off as to what was going on. But no. He returned my ARC, smiled, and waved me on. Then canceled my visa.
@gran
Can’t your hagwon or school just re-vouch for you? Doesn’t seem to be a big problem.
One of my Indian buddies has been pulled off a series of flights around North America post 9-11. Sometimes by the plainclothes marshalls, and once even by the pilot. He’s from India, is highly educated, and works at Intel. …but looks like a scary-eyed, irate terrorist.
Doesn’t matter what my school says. I had my manager on the phone right there at the airport Immigration office. As far as Immigration is concerned, I’m a tourist. All records of the five years I’ve worked here have been thrown out. If I want to work here again, I’ll need to assemble my documents, complete with a new criminal background check (and apostille, natch), submit them to Immigration, and then LEAVE THE FUCKING COUNTRY AGAIN to get my visa.
Sparkling.
The exact same thing happened to a white friend of mine, but with New Zealand. He had some sort of VISA (work or permanent I’m not sure) which was nearly expiring, so he DOUBLE CHECKED and asked when he was leaving with the official at the exit and the guy told him yes you’ll be fine. He wasn’t fine when he got back. They gave him an earful and a lot of shitsticks. It didn’t matter that my friend kept telling him, “BUT I ASKED AT THE EXIT POINT AND YOU SAID IT WAS GOING TO BE FINE”
well before I get told off that two wrongs don’t make it right, just because you get it shit somewhere else doesn’t mean you can shit here, (by the usual people who get riled up about foreigner-discrimination) must re-emphasize that the guy was WHITE. Immigration is shit everywhere. Sorry you had your visa cancelled.
Sorry. I never meant to imply that Korean Immigration is racist, just eye-blinkingly incompetent. And you’re right, Yuna: they certainly don’t have the market cornered on stupidity.
Also, no one has given me “an earful.” Just a canceled visa that will wind up costing my several hundred thousand won to rectify (assuming I can assemble the paperwork in time). I will say that Korean Immigration was quite polite about screwing me over, assholes as they are.
some of you people are amazing…
i have no idea whether the two stories alluded to in marmot’s post are true or not. i wasn’t there.
and neither were you.
however, the automatic reactions of some of you that either or both of the stories is implausible is laughable.
i suppose y’all are the same type of people who laugh off similar stories of senseless racial profiling, discrimination for no reason, and more from blacks and other minorities who claim to experience similar things in the U.S.
explain how it is that either of the stories couldn’t have happened? is it because you are a wide-eyed dreamer who believes in pink unicorns, all-you-can-eat-melt-in-your-mouth chocolate buffets that never make you fat, fan death, pregnancy is impossible if you pull out, and that such things NEVER happen in today’s world?
or are you kool-aid-drinking morodiot who believes that this would never happen in korea to foreigners, especially to whites?
give me a break.
as for you, yu-na, your post at #21 had nothing to offer, save for the last sentence, which seemed about as real an expression of regret as pink unicorns, chocolate buffets, and fan death real things that happen in this particular universe.
if i’m not mistaken, granfalloon’s contribution was to highlight that immigration problems DO happen in korea (and everywhere else, as rightly mentioned). this seemed his way of asking you disbelievers of the stories in the post why is it the stories seemed so unbelievable…
a nicer, more indirect way than my direct, sarcastic one right now.
listen, jon huer may or may not be a moron (that’s for a different post), but he was right on target about his observation of korea’s and koreans’ being so tribal and unable to take ANY criticism of their beloved homeland.
the same shit happens in the US — and it’s no better when it happens there than when it happens here. it’s ALL wrong and it’s an embarrassment to the country in which it happens and to anyone related to or involved with the people being discriminatory.
i’ve been racially profiled in korea. i have non-white friends in LA (the home of racial profiling — feel free to bash my beloved city for that; no offense will be taken — i’m not tribal — unless it’s just frivolous and retaliatory) who’ve been racially profiled so much your head would spin. it happens…
sure, whiney little bitchas and cowardly fuckers cry wolf about it constantly. i get it.
but unless you know for sure who’s a whiney bitch or a cowardly fucker, why y’all so quick to be a hater?
“As it happens, I did indeed have a re-entry permit. But apparently it wasn’t the right re-entry permit.”
As Mateomiguel notes was it a single re-entry permit (rather than a multiple re-entry) if so then the immigration guy could naturally assume you’re not intending to come back (if you only have a single re-entry permit, then clearly you’re not intending to come back) and cancelled it. i.e. I think it possible, and lost in translation, that you had the wrong re-entry permit, not the wrong visa. If your visa was up, or wrong, I think you would have had even more porblem getting back in. If that is the case, and your visa is still infact valid and isn’t about to run out, then you’ll spend only as long as takes in the queue to pay 50,000 won (unless your a brit in which case it s free) and get a new multiple re-entry permit as a formality.
As similar thing happened to me, where the visa office had in an admin slip up pasted a single re-entry despite having requested a multiple re-entry into my passport. Fortunately, in my case the passport control guy thought it odd I was leaving so soon with so much time unexpired on a on a long term visa, and asked me if I was coming back. I replied yes , in few days, just a business trip, and he then helpfully took me aside to the side office where they explained that I would have a problem getting back in, and because british get re-entry permits gratis he was able to give me a multiple re-en try permit on the spot.
Last Friday night I arrived with a group of Koreans, Chinese, Korean Americans and Caucasian Americans to attend the opening of the Incheon Global Fair and Festival. All of us live in Korea, many of us here in New Songdo City. All caucasians were asked to leave the main entrance and enter through a side entrance “to be counted”. What it really was, was an Avian Influenza check point set up to screen people who appeared to be “foreigners”.
As a resident of Korea, I appreciate people in the government are trying to protect us from pandemic flu. But the current method is totally missing all the asian visitors from abroad who look like they could be Korean. There were not many caucasian foreigners at the event and most of the foreign visitors were likely from China, Japan or Korean Americans. Singling out the white people was offensive and pointless… especially since most of us attending probably already live here anyways.
I refused to enter the “white” entrance and went through the regular one.
Right after we entered the festival grounds, a Korean press photographer asked the caucasians to step away from the asians in our group to be photographed. She didn’t want asian-looking people in the photo. We refused to cooperate and made her take the photo with all of us together.
Actually I think it was Swine flu, not Avian. Either way, white people are apparently at higher risk to carry flu in Korea in the minds of officials. They did a similar thing at Pentaport Rock Festival in July.
“however, the automatic reactions of some of you that either or both of the stories is implausible is laughable.”
If you go through Incheon several times a year for several years and never see any such behaviour then it is clearly not laughable to have some credulity as to the veracity of the story, particularly the second guy who’s rant that every fifth person in the street exclaiming “foreigner” loudly just reeks of paranoia. Other examples he gave such as the serving girls might easily be explained by embarassment (justified or not) at being unable to communicate with foreigners.
I for one have never seen only one lane for foreigners, and fourteen for koreans, even when arriving on a korean package tour plane. The areas are not reserved for one flight only, you will often see people arrive a little later from another flight. And as noted by others normally when the korean lanes empty, they start signalling for the foerigners to use those lanes.
In sum the I don’t know about the first example, it woould seem unlikley to take this to the newspaper if not true, but the second……
Since you asked…
In the first story about being framed for drugs, the man states in the KT article that he thinks the test results finding drug residue on the passport was faked. He notes that the passport was in a case with another. He states that he doesn’t use drugs. When asked to hold the passport, he refuses because he thinks it will leave “residue.” This doesn’t make sense. If they lied about the existence of drug residue on the passport, why wouldn’t they lie about the hands, too?
In the second story, the Korean immigration official is alleged to have first selected ethnic Koreans, then light-skinned Asians, and then whites. If she’s a racist, she’s an awfully diligent and organized one, taking the time to select each group.
Vince’s story about being singled out for a health inspection is more credible as there have been numerous other reports of Westerners being subjected to more stringent checks to contain swine flu.
“I think it possible, and lost in translation, that you had the wrong re-entry permit, not the wrong visa.”
I’ve read again, and clearly from what you say they have cancelled your visa, however I still do think that it may have been because you had the wrong single re-entry permit, and it was cancelled because it was assumed (wrongly) that you “clearly weren’t coming back”
“If they lied about the existence of drug residue on the passport, why wouldn’t they lie about the hands, too?” I don’t think he is suggesting the test was wrong, he is suggesting it was correct but that they planted the residue on the passport in order to achieve a positive test, however they had not had the opportunity to plant any on his hand, hence his refusal to touch the passport.
Although, they still could directly take a test and claim it was from his hand, if they were trying to frame him would they take two multiple clean tests before doing so. It seems possible there was an initial positive (possible false positive), and then they were flummoxed that his was clean on the hand test and then tried to “fix” it from their….
Elleydave,
I take criticism for my homeland & I am genuinely sorry for what happened to Grandfalloon because I know exactly what he means – the pain of having chest X-ray, police records sent from every single country you’d lived in, and many hundreds of dollars for the 3rd time in a row for virtually what amounts to the same thing, and you should note that most “haters” and “disbelievers” on this thread, unlike me, are not Koreans but seasoned non-Koreans who have lived or once lived in Korea for a long time.
I think I pretty much know what goes down in regards to the cops/immigration and it happens in police departments everywhere around the world, not just Korea. The border patrol/cops are underpaid and under pressure from their superiors to stop drugs (who are under the gun from the bureaucracies). So they lean on the inferiors and the rookies are forced to make false positives. Through profiling, they have a high success rate in these false confessions which buffers the fact that they are coerced. This happens on the streets of NYC where beat cops under pressure from their captains lean on black/hispanic youths for petty marijuana offenses. And it also happens to English teachers going to SE asian countries where Koreans know that there is a 50% chance they are going to smoke weed because of the relaxed policies. This is nothing more than some peon employee trying to win some bonus points and eventual promotion, rather than some insidious racist policy.
The solution to complain/sue the department, but otherwise this kind of crap will go in America, Korea and elsewhere until we abolish draconian and backwards drug laws.
“but unless you know for sure who’s a whiney bitch or a cowardly fucker, why y’all so quick to be a hater?”
Do you actually know the difference between the terms “implausible” and “never could have happened”. Why exactly should we automatically take what they say without question when our experience sheds doubt upon it (second case particularly).
No one is questioning granfalloons account, it is a very plausible fuck up.
yuna, that’s a great point. the crowd at marmot’s hole are definitely long-timers as opposed to, say, dave’s -blech-esl world.
of course i take everything i read in the comments with a grain of salt, and there are definitely details left out with the passport/residue issue (what kind of normal person refuses to touch their own passport? me thinks said tourist knows a little more about drugs than he lets on!)
but let’s not forget that racism is not illegal here. not that it ever seems to matter in Korea what is illegal or not. “ma-eum dae-ro” is the only “rule” that applies.
#33 Benji, I think most can accept the possibility, certainly profiling of english teachers, however there is not so much of a drug problem here, and I don’t think there is such huge pressure on korean immigration to falsify results but thinking they’ve got someone, and then the possible embarssment of reporting to their seniors they were wrong, makes me think there is some plausiblity to the KT article event.
arghaeri #36, there’s not as much of a drug problem here compared to back home (Canada for me) but there is a much larger negative view towards it, resulting in harsher penalties for us and locals alike.
Residue tests are BS. Take a note out of your wallet and have it tested for residue. Chances are that there is drug residue on it.
shakuhachi, absolutely. a quick google search “cocaine residue on money” brings a tonne of hits.
hence my comment that the test may not have been falsified, but that they were then flummoxed by the repeated clean tests from his hands.
@Arghaeri and Seouliva:
Agree with most of what you’ve written. I think he was profiled and intimidated after a dubious residue test. His story is somewhat incoherent, though.
#37 totally agree, but that doesn’t mean they consider there is a large problem that warrants a large imperative to get the number up by falsification….
#42 you’re right absolutely. i was getting a bit off-topic
‘let’s not forget that racism is not illegal here”
It is illegal here, it is contrary to the Korean Consitution, of course observing the constitution is another matter…
Without commenting on the specifics of these two cases, I always wonder how much of what we describe is based on our idiosyncratic interpretations of things – e.g. I do get that “who will take the foreigner” thing in some stores (though not nearly as often as Korean Rum Diary does) but I normally interpret it as employees trying to figure out who is best suited to handle me if it turns out I don’t have sufficient Hanguk-mal. So I generally see it as customer service.
All I want is to spend one day following Korean Rum Diary around with my video camera!
Granfalloon. Interesting story. Sound like 6 of one and half a dozen of the other to me. Why didn’t you check when you were leaving?
Fair enough Adams. I assumed that because I was allowed to keep my ARC that my visa was still valid. My understanding is that when a visa is canceled, the ARC is kept by Immigration. Obviously not.
Correctionreferences above are to “single entry permit” and “multiple entry permit” not “re-entry”
#32
aight yuna, i take back my comment about your perceived (from my POV) lack of sincerity for granfalloon’s visa issues.
however…
re: your “and you should note that most “haters” and “disbelievers” on this thread, unlike me, are not Koreans but seasoned non-Koreans who have lived or once lived in Korea for a long time.”
i accused neither koreans nor non-koreans of being haters. it was meant as an observation in general. i grant the ambiguousness…
IMHO, there’s way too many haters from both sides of the fence here (as there is everywhere). and i don’t get it.
roundeyes here in korea bitch constantly about things. some of it justified, some it not. korea’s a cool place. i’ve been here for more than eight years, but sometimes i just want dropkick the whole country.
but i’d like to dropkick texas and arkansas, too. korea and arkansas are very similar places…
anyway, i digress…
koreans bitch about roundeyes who bitch.
roundeyes bitch about koreans who bitch about their bitching.
koreans (including some americans who have korean ethnicity, yet wouldn’t know what korea’s about if it sat on their stomach and wiggled provocatively) get defensive when roundeyes criticize korea.
roundeyes get defensive about koreans who defend korea senselessly and/or who criticise the US or the UK or wherever the hell it is they’re from just in retaliation.
it’s a circle that’s as boring as a circle jerk.
why don’t y’all quit hatin’ and start making coherent arguments and/or accusations; stop jumping to conclusions about everything you read and start being objective; stop blahblahblah and start blahblahblah…
never mind, i’m wasting my time and everyone else’s thinking there’ll be more than a minority here who’ll see both sides of the fence, be objective, and make points accordingly…
oh, and arghaeri:
Do you actually know the difference between the terms “implausible” and “never could have happened”.
i know i’m from LA and all, and you speak the queen’s english, but i don’t know what your point is here.
If you aren’t going to bother capitalizing anything I don’t see why anyone should bother reading your post. Typical barely-literate, charisma-man douchebaggery.
“i know i’m from LA and all, and you speak the queen’s english, but i don’t know what your point is here.”
I quote,
“however, the automatic reactions of some of you that either or both of the stories is implausible is laughable.”
You’re the first person to ever accuse me of speaking the Queens English, “gosh one does feel proud”.
In any case I had no idea that “implausible”, “never could of happened” and the difference between them were unknown concepts in LA. My bad, I foolishly assumed that that, despite being from LA, you would have recevied at least a basic education in english.
“never mind, i’m wasting my time and everyone else’s thinking there’ll be more than a minority here who’ll see both sides of the fence, be objective, and make points accordingly…”
where on earth have you shown any consideration that there may be another side, you have openly and clearly rejected any discussion of same, again I quote “however, the automatic reactions of some of you that either or both of the stories is implausible is laughable”
not to mention ignoring the subsequent discussion leading to the view, the series events in the first case may be plausible, but that there is still some skeptism as to the conclusion that from the beginning they were out to frame him.
Maybe the guy wore a t-shirt with a drawing of marijuana and ate a doughnut with powered sugar.
Korean police does not have time to drug test every foreigner. He must have done something to attract attention.
Next, wear a suit and a tie. And, don’t play hiphop music in the airport.
The dirty racist MF Korean NAZI’s were out to frame an innocent foreigner because they wanted to prove that English teachers are bad drug taking a-holes, so that they can print them in Korean news.
Rolls eyes.
Too much Korea related blogs/Dave’s ESL readings does this to you.
If indeed these Korean officials had framed him, those bastards should spend time in prison. But the evidence here seems stacked against Mr. Washko. Here’s a few reasons why I believe so:
1. How does he explain the initial MDMA that was detected on his passport, and then the further traces found on the “wallets and watches”? Can the author truly be that ignorant of the origin of a drug on his passport, an item that most people safeguard and watch very carefully during travels to 2nd World countries.
2. Also he seems to incriminate himself in the sixth paragraph when he says, “then they framed me,” which implies that he knows he hadn’t been framed before that point when his passport, wallet and watch were found to have been contaminated.
3. Also, the tone of the article does not seem natural given the circumstance. Shouldn’t the author be pleased at the outcome? He is angry because he felt “humiliated,” but in reality, (1) they were polite enough to tell him about the MDMA in private in an enclosed room, (2) they even let him go free after detecting drugs on his passport, watch and wallet! Instead of being “humiliated,” shouldn’t the author rather be grateful he was let off after drugs had been found on his personal possessions?
4. Other points of suspicion:
- His urge to suddenly use a restroom stall while being interrogated
- Hyperbole: “most humiliating moment of my life,” “this is completely true”…
- Selective memory: the two passports “had been in the same bag OR pocket for most of the return flight.” Which one is it, pocket or bag? Shouldn’t he know this detail? the outcome is vastly different in both cases, as in a bag the two passports needn’t have contacted each other…
Racism and Xenophobia are a fact of life in Korea. Poor treatment of Foreigner residents and tourists is wide spread. Despite the fact Koreans teach their children they are kind to foreigners, reality paints a different picture.
Koreans are non Koreans are not treated fairly and equally under the law. Nor are they treated fairly in the eyes of public opinion. Most Koreans do not believe non Koreans should get equal treatment.
There are many stories of abuse and mistreatment by non Koreans but they are often dismissed by apologist. Korea is a backward country and they are learning, or country A or country B does or did that. When a non Korean voices discontent with the treatment or the current state of affairs, the advice, get out of Korea. Better to get rid of the complainer than to address the complaint.
Until Korea deals with the blatant racist attitudes of the public, the government and the media, the problems will persist and likely get worse.
I know a South African who wears a t-shirt with a big marijuana leaf. Occasionally he gets stopped in the street by people who – thinking it’s a maple leaf – go on to ask him what part of Canada he’s from.
Oh, the ironing.
Re: 58
Bud, he’s from BC
Re: “Until Korea deals with the blatant racist attitudes of the public, the government and the media, the problems will persist and likely get worse.”
I agree the problems will persist until changes occur. The million dollar question is “how” will Korea make this shift in attitudes? Korea is a top-down kind of place and significant change will likely require many someones from high ranking social positions (government, media, churches) routinely taking on the issue over a long period of time.
Actually, it’s going to take even longer, because the kind of change you’re talking about has to come from “civil society”, something that despite the usual megaphone claims about its existence in Korea (driven by the resentment-fueled desire to appear to have all the accoutrements of a modern society) barely exists in Korea.
Seems to me like things have been getting better just on their own.
@Boshintang
Your questions fail to include some stuff…like why would he have residue on his passport or his wristwatch, of all things? Why was he singled out in the first place?
For whatever reason he was dragged out of line and they performed a cursory search of his belongings. Fine. It happens everywhere.
But after not finding any evidence of drugs, they then ask for his passport in order to do a swab test on it? Why on earth would they ever do that? Or swab his hands for that matter? And further, why in the hell would MDMA have ever touched either of these items? Hands I can see. A pocket, sure. But a watch? And a passport? Unless he was smuggling it in the same pocket as the passport, it seems asinine to assume that. They didn’t find any pills in his bag, so it makes that a moot point.
And why are we talking specifically MDMA and not hashish or any other drugs, btw? Seems very strange to only target one particular drug with no particular reason being stated.
How much time passed between the seizure of the guy’s passport and him being told “we found residue” is also an interesting point to question…doesn’t it typically take a couple of minutes for the results of these sorts of tests to be confirmed? Why no urinalysis? I’m sure they have scores of kits in the office begging to be used. Because of the “your body is a container” legal perspective, that would be a quick and easy way to pin him with a charge if it in fact was warranted, which apparently it wasn’t since they eventually released him.
All in all, this reeks of a fishing expedition…pull the guy in unannounced, use shock-and-awe tactics to scare the shit out of him, and hope that by making false accusations that he slips and incriminates himself or others. That would also explain the divide-and-conquer strategy they used by only targeting him and not his boyfriend. Even if they only suspected him, it’s pretty imprudent that they not test both of them just to be sure. It’s highly suspect that they didn’t.
My experience in Korea in 1982-83 is similar to 2007-2009. Foreigners are alternately on a pedestal or reviled. Sometimes at the same time. Nothing will fundamentally change until the ignorance of the bias that exists within is identified and tamed. Many Koreans have racist and biased feelings about themselves so of course they are racist about others. It will definitely require a change in civil society but unlikely to happen by osmosis. The US had been consciously tackling the racism problem for many decades. The US military was one of the very first adopters in the 1970s of what would become known as affirmative action. We may have a chocolate president in 2009 but racism is alive and well in the US, even in the military. The problem is deep and won’t go away without continual, unflagging effort.
So far, it’s not seen as that big of an issue in Korea so I’m not holding my breath. However, at some point Korean officials and citizens may begin to clearly see how the Korean economy lags behind nations with strong multicultural knowledge worker hubs. Some sequence of events surrounding the ascent of China will likely be the trigger.
“The million dollar question is “how” will Korea make this shift in attitudes? “
When all the living adjoshis go to the grave, and the young people who are 200% more tolerant and educated are able to start getting control of things. In simple words, in the next 20yrs or so…
Bitch Bitch Bitch. Wow, a 20-30 something stinky white dude got stopped at the airport for a check? You’d be surprised how often that happens EVERYWHERE. Wear the same clothes, smell the same, and board a flight from Amsterdam or Jamaica to anywhere in the US or Canada. You are def going to be singled out.
But while in line and not after the immigration guy asks where he was going? It’s a bit different…
‘Implausible’ – Like I said, that was the first time I experienced any real problems at Inchon. I was surprised to see what I did. Just because you hadn’t seen it before, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.
Wow, there are some dumbass comments here.
While that may certainly be true, some might ask whether a guy who writes that Koreans are “uniformly irredeemable” and “barely rise above the level of apes” should be the one pointing that out.
Perhaps I could give them lessons in the use of vitriol. These amateurs need schooled.
Hey Koreanrumdiary, your posts made me all sad.. I feel sorry for you. Your posts – they’re both pathetic and pity-inducing at the same time, like a 14 year old Emo school girl, who hates school and grown-ups and the world. You write like a bug would that needs to be squished out of its own misery. I used to write like that, if Kevin from Kevin & Perry (Harry Enfield et al) were to write. While I agree with some of the stuff you’d written about Korea and feel your pain/hate, your style is just bleh. Why don’t you make some Korean friends & move to somewhere where they don’t look at foreigners and point like Seoul..
BTW Have you read Loco in Yoko?
http://goinglocoinyokohama.wordpress.com/2008/12/29/acts-of-retaliation-2-joystick/
http://goinglocoinyokohama.wordpress.com/2008/11/19/retaliation-day/
In particular, I think you will enjoy reading all the “Acts of Retaliation” on the right hand column and some under “Conversations”. I must say, his writing style is much more enjoyable than yours, for the moment.
While my publishing of my experience at customs one and half weeks ago was for the purpose of discussion, it seems very difficult to have a discussion in this type of format, especially in the anonymous blog world. The cynicism, the name-calling, the lack of respect are all very disappointing. But I would like to respond in a proper way.
My article is factually true. It is only lacking even more detail than it could have included, but due to time and length constraints I was forced to cut other intricate aspects. It is also emotionally true. My love for my life in this country is boundless and amazing; consequently, when it was threatened through wrongful accusation, my heartbreak and fear were just as strong.
While you do not know me, and I do not know you, I say again in hopes you believe me because it is also true: I did not and have never used drugs of any kind. I certainly was not bringing drugs into Korea from Malaysia, and I recall all of these events correctly. I was as confused as you are at the events of the drug tests and positive and negative results. It had no rhyme or reason. A shared bag and passport holder would certainly turn up positive results on both, no? It was also difficult to understand because of the language barrier (as my Korean attempts were just laughed at because of my piss poor pronunciation). He could not even explain the supposed drug on my hand until he Wikipedia searched it and let us both read it. And sadly, I did not record an audio or video file of the 1.5 hour encounter. I simply ask questions and want some answers. I do not violently seek revenge or wish to yell and scream and collect. I even understand they wanted to WATCH me defecate because why would a reasonable customs official allow a supposed drug trafficker go into a stall alone and flush his supposed stash? I am not calling out the routine procedure that framed this event.
I am calling out the unprofessionalism, the falsification, and the extreme humiliation while I was not permitted to say anything or defend myself in any way. At all. Maybe those people had a bad day or just didn’t like my face. Mine is not to figure out woe-is-me-why, but it is to discuss and stop this from happening more. (It’d be nice to stop the childish ways people discuss these things, while we’re at it.)
I hope no one associates me with rampant, arrogant, blaming, vengeful, and cranky foreign English teacher (like the #2 story)…but it will be difficult because this kind of speaking up for better treatment may be seen as taking things for granted and loudly treating this as a disaster requiring Amnesty International. It is not. I do not want money or even specific action taken. I just want a discussion, again. I fail to see how this want is complaining.
This is my life, and yours, being foreigners in Korea, and there are issues with our lives here. Look at the Groove Magazine this month: Its cover story is the “anti-English teacher movement,” yet when someone speaks up about their own experiences it is slighted and taken down by cynics. We can do much better than this.
I’m happy my article was posted (despite the atrociously dramatic title they gave it, and the email introduction I sent them not intended for publication). And I will continue to make noise about this, to my Korean and non-Korean friends, coworkers, and family.
Thanks for any and all comments. If you have serious questions or want to discuss this, please feel free to email me.
My first reply didn’t show up, so I’ll try again:
The writer of the letter to the KT left a comment; an excerpt:
* * *
I wish the Times hadn’t made the title so dramatic. And not began it with my personal message to them BEFORE the actual story-part. But oh well.
I’m glad people are talking.
As to some comments:
My style of dress was neither disshevled or sloppy. I’m fairly clean shaven and short haired. I’m not a “profile.”
The US Embassy cannot help me, as they cannot entangle themselves in personal affairs of expats.”
@Granfalloon
Nope. They have them, and will keep them, barring a catastrophe. I speak from experience – although I have left Korea for good in 2004, Immigration still has records of not only every job I have held, but also the dates of every single entry and exit I made during my stay. And that’s a fucking long list, if you’ll pardon my native French. List which I have requested some time ago, and got.
Whatever they think of your status in Korea, believe me, they haven’t thrown away the records. They just don’t think it applies any longer.
The last time I had to go to 목동 Immigration, before my employers paid for a lawyer to pave the way for (supposedly) easy visa application and renewal, there were different counters for different nationalities – back then it was, I think, the US, China, Japan, and “the rest”. Plus there were two kinds of counters: counters to apply for a visa, and counters to pick up your passport and resident card. Maybe it’s still like that – I have no clue as I haven’t been inside that hell hole of a place since 1998 or so.
Anyway, the last time I went there, it was to pick up my passport and “alien” registration card. I go to the “Rest of the World/Pickup” counter, hand over the slip of paper that served as a receipt, and the very pregnant, very bored, very 아파트 아줌마ish employee takes forever and a day to fetch my stuff. Like many employees back then in that place, she didn’t speak a word of English, how convenient. I had to sign something, if memory serves, and after exchanging a few words, she tells me that for a 미국사람 I speak good Korean. I look at her, look at the sign that says “기타”, look at my passport, look again at her and say “If I’m American, I’m definitely at the wrong counter, right?” – “Whatever,” she answers, “American, Foreigner, all the same…”
But I guess it’s not racism, just an acute case of cretinism…
@dda
I’ve got an F4 gyopo visa and my experience was nearly the same, down to the compliments that my Korean was pretty good. And actually my immigration officer spoke Konglish, tossing in the tough words I had no idea what they were in Korean. I had Mokdong though.
And as a one-time ROK citizen and having been born there, I didn’t realize that I would be eligible to go to military — assuming my parents never revoked mine or their citizenships…in the Korean database — until my friend who was with me mentioned it. So having the long stare, shuffling of papers … and an ajosshi mumbling to himself all lifted the drama, until he finally said: “You are eligible for teh F4 visa.” though that wasn’t before I had glanced at the door and decided I would make a run for it, if i wasn’t.
@t_song As for the Army, you had another way out: as Oranckay often says, if you want to avoid being drafted into the Korean Army, just volunteer for the Navy!
Another bad experience I saw at 목동 was that of a young Korean mother, with child, who had married with a US citizen, emigrated, and taken up the US citizenship – thus losing her Korean citizenship. She had divorced, shit happens, and ran back to Momma, in Seoul. Except she was now a US citizen, without a right of abode in Korea. And in was the mid-90s, with the laws much less ignorant of the plights of ex-Koreans, kyop’os and the like.
She was explaining all this to an immigration officer, who not only looked bored, but also quite pissed about the whole thing. After a while, he cut her off and started yelling, I shit you not “왜 왔어? 인젠 미국사람인데 여기 왜 왔어? 안돼! 나가! 나가서 미국 돌아가!” A fine moment in the history of the Immigration Office…
@dda
Wow, that guy is a tool–and his Korean is awful!
haha, 농담인뿐이야 …
RE: #50-53
why are you guys such haters. who cares if i don’t capitalize? welcome to technology and new ways of writing. have you not heard of twitter or facebook?
and i don’t call out people here who can’t use proper grammar or spell correctly…
then i poke fun at myself (being from LA) and i get jumped on? y’all are pretty brave folks to be hatin’ on people from your computers.
i ask for a clarification of what point someone was trying to make and my level of education gets hated on?
SAFH but still LMFAO
can you dig?
t_song 농담”일” 뿐. “인” 아니고,,
“Just” joking is not as common colloquially as in English.
Maybe it’s more common to use “그냥” 농담, “그냥” 해 본 소리..
dda’s Korean is one of the best by a non-Korean person I’d read on this thread, including the kyopos.
ellaydave, the word “hater – i.e. someone who hates” is a bit 80′s, is it not? Like a pair of fluorescent biker gloves and peace sign in a flower.
“i know i’m from LA and all, and you speak the queen’s english, but i don’t know what your point is here.”
Saying “I am from LA” is not making fun of yourself,
Saying I speak the Queens English is hateful remark,
So the making fun of yourself must have been “I am from LA” “i dont’ know what your point is here”. OK I get it now, you were making a “I’m a blonde joke”
What hate are your referring to by the way?
Haha, wow, I’ve been saying that wrong for years, decades—why has noone ever corrected my obvious Englean? Well, I suppose dda goes right above me in the Korean language skills department. Fine by me.
Yuna is just trolling you, don’t believe her insidious lies about common Korean expressions.
@Yuna:
The flower children ditched their peace signs for corporate “Dress for Success” suits in the greed-is-good 80s.
Not all of us, Sonagi.
I find it amusing that through the history of my blog, people only post comments on the critical ones. Nobody wants to read about anything positive… They just pick the negative and comment mercilessly. It’s funny. I’m getting a bad reputation, and it’s because Koreans and Korea’s ESL teachers all – just like me! – love to bitch and whine.
Kudos! You just keep getting better and better.
#87 You don’t think perhaps that the reason might be the first time anyones heard of your log was the MH link at the top of this post?
@Sonagi
Not the children of the former flower children who were dressed for success, It made a brief come back for their children right up there along with the hole in the ozone, That was the first time for a lot of us when we were wondering why the Mercedes Benz sign was cool.
Please give links. Or start writing.
A somewhat positive experience with *US* Immigration.
#91 – “Please give links. Or start writing.”
Yuna, throughout the history of my blog, there have been plenty of non-offensive posts, and people simply don’t want to read them or comment on them… Here’s one small recent example: http://koreanrumdiary.blogspot.com/2009/07/fleeced-like-rube-on-bbc.html
@koreanrumdiary,
I feel fleeced after reading your linked post above. If you are not joking and genuinely think that that particular post is a positive and non-offensive one (I won’t even bother blockquoting from it) then I give up. I’m just very sorry that you came to feel that way about us. I’d mentioned the word “hater” was a bit twee and a bit naff, but you cannot be described by any other.
Good luck in your next country.
Adios.
Lol.
I love it! Amerikans with their civil-liberties-destroying Drug Prohibition, having successfully exported it to many other countries (including Korea), then get to experience the lack of civil liberties firsthand. But they like it! “It’s okay for you to watch me take a shit, Mr. Customs Officer. I understand that you’re doing it in order to protect me.”
And for all those who want to talk about how your home country has a worse drug problem than Korea, you aren’t seeing the whole picture. Korea has a huge drug problem. It’s called alcohol. And if you can’t see the enormity of this drug problem, maybe it’s because you’re taking alcohol yourselves.
LEAP – Law Enforcement Against Prohibition – http://www.leap.cc/cms/index.php
“Amerikans?” Rather 1980s, no?
Yuna – Haha, fair enough. There are more, but sadly you are like me – a hater. You want to protect Korea from all bad things, and you attack anyone that says a word you deem negative.
It amuses and infuriates me to see you pass over positive blogs and pick up on the negative ones. Just like so many other posters, you simply see what you want.
KRD, maybe you can explain what is so positive about that blog link. I’m with Yuna on this one. I don’t see it, either.
Ok, then look further… There are several positive posts.
Such as you positive contribution at#238 on “well, I hope we’re feeling more independent now” no doubt
Yeah, insightful and relative comment, there, Arghaeri.
You must log in to post a comment.