John M. Glionna of the Los Angeles Times has written an excellent piece on Yie Eun-woong, manager of ‘Anti-English Spectrum‘, a group which I posted about last December, who actively go about finding and following foreign English teachers in the hope of finding some dirt on them to pass onto the local authorities. These self-proclaimed patriots have been embolden by the arrests of individuals being caught teaching illegally, engaging in gambling or engaging in otherwise illegal activities.
Not content with just that, they also actively work on rumour-mongering, demonising and stereotyping the foreign English teacher community as a whole, but when called out on it, fall back saying we’re only looking out to catch the bad guys. Well, I guess if you scrutinise and demonise an entire community for long enough, you’re bound to catch one or two bad apples, aren’t you?
Anyways, here’s some of what the man himself, Yie Eun-woong, had to say about the group’s activities along with his own activities and experiences as manger of the online community. (The rest can be found here).
Reporting from Seoul – Sometimes, in his off hours, Yie Eun-woong does a bit of investigative work.
He uses the Internet and other means to track personal data and home addresses of foreign English teachers across South Korea.
Then he follows them, often for weeks at a time, staking out their apartments, taking notes on their contacts and habits.
He wants to know whether they’re doing drugs or molesting children.
Yie, a slender 40-year-old who owns a temporary employment agency, says he is only attempting to weed out troublemakers who have no business teaching students in South Korea, or anywhere else.
The volunteer manager of a controversial group known as the Anti-English Spectrum, Yie investigates complaints by South Korean parents, often teaming up with authorities, and turns over information from his efforts for possible prosecution.
Outraged teachers groups call Yie an instigator and a stalker.
Yie waves off the criticism. “It’s not stalking, it’s following,” he said. “There’s no law against that.”
(Somehow I can’t see Mr. Yie being as happy if it were I following, not stalking, him all hours of the day as it’s not illegal, is it?!)
Understandably, this article has created quite a buzz in the Korean ex-pat blogosphere with Brian, Robert and Matt being just some of the bloggers posting on this article, along with some discussion over at Dave’s ESL Cafe.
It is true that they are and have been some bad seeds in the foreign English teaching community, it would be almost statistically impossible to have such a large population of individuals and not have at least a few dodgy individuals. Individuals who break laws and commit crimes should be punished accordingly regardless of nationality, race, creed or ethnicity. That said, there’s a major difference between catching and reprimanding law-breakers, and brushing an entire community as evil and in need of constant monitoring over the actions of a limited few individuals.
I’m thankful that Mr. Glionna took the time to interview Mr. Yie and that this piece has entered a major Western newspaper. For all the millions of welcoming, friendly, hospitable and open-minded Koreans unfortunately there still is a significant number of misguided, self-righteous, nationalist individuals of Mr. Yie’s ilk whose thinly disguised xenophobia and racism undermine and threaten to sabotage the leaps and bounds this country has made over the last 50 years from war-ravaged impoverished agrarian society to modern, wealthy, democratic, economic powerhouse of today. Mr. Yie and his ilk are not the future of Korea, they are the past. I hope and trust that the majority of good people in Korea will eventually see through the lies, hate and mistrust, and move on to a more integrated, welcoming and tolerant nation.
After almost seven years since I landed on her shores - I still remember the time and date 7:30am Friday, 4th April, 2003 - I’ve decided to leave the fair,or more aptly,olivebosom of Korea and venture back to Australia come this April.
I’ve thought about it for a while and have decided it’s time to move on for now at least. Though, I’m not writing off Korea just yet as my girlfirend (Hyun-jeong) and I are planning on going back to Australia for a year and then most likely heading back here if not mainland China or somewhere else where I can get paid relatively handsomely for speaking my native tongue.
So, I guess this blog will be taking a change of direction soon or perhaps I start a new one with a quirky like Wollongong Livin’,Illawarra Life, Honourary Jeonnam-saram down under, or some such crap.
Anyways, cheers and for the meantime I’ll keep blogging on whatever interests me when I have the time.
There’s been a lot of buzz lately in the Korean press, expat discussion boards, blogosphere, and now Western media over the Anti-English Spectrum group who have actively since 2005 been campaigning to protect Korean children and citizens from ‘rouge’ native English teachers. While on the surface this may sound like a noble enough quest, a quick look under the surface discovers their true modus operandi.
The group was set up largely as a result of a former ex-pat English teacher discussion board, English Spectrum, which by all accounts was very loosely moderated – to their detriment – and included a mock post on how to molest students, posts on sexual encounters with Korean women, and pictures of young ex-pats drinking and fondling consenting young Korean women at parties. These individuals posted enough highly provocative posts and pictures that it eventually (and inevitably) caught the attention of concerned Korean citizens and Anti-English Spectrum was born. The group’s profile and activities grew exponentially following the arrest of convicted pedophile, Christopher Paul Neil, in 2008 who had taught in Korea though had not committed any offences there.
Rundown on what the 'friendly' folks at Anti-English Spectrum believe lies within a Western English teacher's brain
From that point on, Anti-English Spectrum under its devoted leader, Lee Eun-ung, went into overdrive ‘protecting’ the Korean masses, in particular Korean children and women, from heavy drinking, sex offending, drug abusing, Korean women fondling, no-good Western dropouts who couldn’t find a job elsewhere – apparently the vast majority of native English teachers fit that bill according to the folks at Anti-English Spectrum. Their activities have including stalking native English teachers for months at a time until ‘finding’ an offense to take to the police, posting malicious, false and discriminating posts, having an audience with Government officials on one occasion, and having one member(/s) post death threats to a prominent expat union. Many ex-pats argue that Anti-English Spectrum have largely influenced public opinion of and laws pertaining to native English teachers through their efforts in liaison with the media, police and Government officials. Whereby they have often cited either misleading, incorrect, incomplete or downright false and inflammatory accounts of native English teachers to further their agenda feeding on age-old latent xenophobia still existing in modern South Korean society.
Korean women who hang out with Western males are also targets of Anti-English Spectrum
A more complete coverage and rundown of Anti-English Spectrum, their history, actions and motives can be found at Andrea Vandom’s excellent, detailed study of the group along with; The Marmot’s Hole, Brian in Jeollanam-do, Gusts of Popular Feeling, three Korea-based ex-pat blogs along with that have extensively followed the Anti-English Spectrum group, their history and activities.
I arrived in Jeonju, South Korea in April 2003, less than one year after the fateful tank accident involving a US military tank and two Korean teenage girls and around the same time as the beginning of the Iraq War. There still was latent anger present at that time towards individuals appearing to be American – pretty much any Westerner - though these feelings were largely dissipated once people found out your nationality, provided of course you weren’t American, it was a tough time to be American in South Korea.
At the time being wide-eyed and open to new experiences although I felt some tension, even animosity, at my presence from time to time and although many locals were extremely nervous and anxious around my presence during these times as sometimes you truly were the first foreigner locals had ever interacted with, the vast majority of the time I was treated with goodwill, kindness, sincerity and an eagerness to show me the best face Korea had to offer.
Since this time, I have inevitably gone through the peaks and troughs of living abroad in a culture that is vastly different to my home country and the resultant anxiety, alienation, isolation and anger that can result from such, particularly when the host culture is one of the most ethnically homogeneous on Earth with a documented history of xenophobia and mistrust of foreigners – often for purely valid reasons. Most foreigners who landed on Korean shores before mid-last century were not friendly neighbours but more conquerors, mercenaries and invaders.
As time has gone on I have changed and Korea has changed alongside with me. The change and development within Korea in the short time I have been here has been truly remarkable though some thing take longer to change than others. Korea, in my mind, is now more familiar with Westerners and while many may be more comfortable with our presence, this is not entirely true for all individuals. Whereas, when I first came to Korea I was often the source of constant astonishment, curiosity and interest this is not so much the case these days as most people have seen plenty of people who look similar to me for a number of years now.
Unfortunately, what has sometimes followed in its place is a feeling of jadedness, insecurity and in some individuals, even animosity and hate, to what I am and what I appear to stand for and represent. Whilst, by no means most individuals feel threatened, uncomfortable or even angry at my presence, it is there and has been something that hasn’t – nor probably will – leave Korean society, though the same is true of every society on Earth, there will always be those who dislike the different, the ‘outsiders’, the foreigners.
Learning a bit of the language and being able to understand a reasonable amount of what is being said in my presence – as any Korean learner in Korea can attest – can be a blessing and a curse for often locals with use their language as a cloak of fraternity and partnership among each other – essentially closing in the wagons and will often freely express their true feelings under this cloak – believing the foreigner does not understand – whilst often saying or appearing to say something different.
Whilst, Korea’s experiences are by no means unique and a clearly sign of a once homogeneous country coming to terms with a sudden, rapid influx of foreign nationals on its shores – something which all Western nations themselves have gone through to one degree or another. I often likened Korea to 1950s Australia, when all of a sudden the majority Anglo-Celtic population – who in 1947 comprised a whooping 90% of the Australian population – had to come to terms with the rapid influx of thousands and thousands of displaced Europeans (and in later waves from the 70s onwards Asians, people from the Middle East, Oceania and Africa) seeking a new life and more often than not coming with a different appearance, different tongue, different palate, different customs and different culture. In many ways, Australia itself – despite being one of the most multicultural Western democracies – still has a long way yet to go until there is true equality amongst all ethnic groups living in the country.
I believe Korea will grow from these growing pains of being a newly open, modern society and will move on to become more inclusive and accepting of individuals who may not look, act or speak like the local populace. Though, it will take time and it will take honest discussions and discourse on just what direction Korea wants to take, otherwise there’s the potential of a growing disenfranchised, maligned or disadvantaged subset of the local population creating problems for social harmony and integration of ethnically non-Koreans in Korean society.
Time will tell and sometimes I wonder I have the patience to stick around and see whether Korea can become the truly great, integrated society it has the potential to become. It does have a lot going for it.
I’m interested in your thoughts on modern Korean society and its race relations and xenophobia. What it was like in the past, what is it like now and what do you believe it will be like in the future?
I’m currently in a coffee shop in Gangneung, Gangwon-do on the east coast of South Korea. Since Saturday, I’ve traveled north to Iksan then way over to Sokcho via Seoul. Sokcho is on the far north east coast of Korea and is actually north of the 38th parallel, being under North Korean control for the bulk of the Korean War. As such, there are since many army patrols and fenced off beaches – unfortunately – as the North Koreans have been known to have come onto the beaches in the cover of darkness and abduct hapless locals just for the hell but thankfully that hasn’t happened for many years and didn’t happen to me.
Whilst in Sokcho, I went to nearby Seoraksan mountains, which is a oddly assorted, strikingly beautiful outcrop of jagged peaks. Well worth the visit, I took plenty of photos. The beaches are there are great too, but I didn’t bother swimming.
Up there is real country – perhaps more so than even Jeollanam-do – and as such I had trouble getting the right bus connections to Gangneung where I am now as I left my guidebook at home and barely anyone speaks English. But, it was all fun.
From here, I head down to Andong, which is famous for its Korean folk village and mask festival. After that I’ll probably head home. I’ve enjoyed this trip so far as I like seeing different parts of Korea as they are often so similar to other parts yet so different, and it’s the differences that make them interesting.
I get one month’s vacation with my workplace, which is very generous by Korean standards – where many individuals still work six days a week and receive a paltry three days a year vacation on top of public holidays (which when fall on weekends, like last Saturday’s Liberation Day, are canceled out).
So, my work arrangements in terms of vacation time are very good in perspective and nothing to sneeze at, most Australian workers receive about the same, many Europeans receive more, while most North Americans receive less, all in all it’s pretty good.
I took one week off in June and traveled up north to Seoul and Gwangju to visit friends and was planning to take three weeks off round Christmas and head back to Australia. That was until yesterday’s meeting when I was informed by my co-ordinator that there’s a change in protocol in terms of vacations whereby everyone now has to take two weeks in summer, two in winter. As such, I have to take a vacation before the end of August – no much notice, but nothing I’m all that upset about. So, as of yesterday, the good news is I have a week off from 31 August until 4 September, the bad news is I don’t have extra week for the Australian summer, which isn’t all that bad as I should be able to do all I was planning to do in three weeks,in two weeks, and after two weeks the familial ties start to wear a bit anyway due to the prolonged close contact – I love my family but also love my free space.
Last Saturday, I had a meeting with my landlord whereby I extended my contract lease until March and was notified of a change in my address. I used to live in room 901 but now, for reasons unbeknown to me – not that I care to ask anyway – I live in 902. All the change involved was a lifting of my previous 901 sticker on the door outside my apartment with a replacement 902 sticker. I double-checked my contract just to see there wasn’t any funny business involved in the sudden room change which coincides with new tenants in the now 901. But, everything seems legit, my new contract has my new room number on it and as such I can’t foresee any troubles – yet.
One thing I like about Korea, the more she changes the more she stays the same. She keeps you on your toes as everything will be mellow and straight-forward until all of a sudden everything changes overnight. Luckily for me this time, these changes seem relatively minor and doable.
Now, I’ve just gotta somewhere to go and something to do for this unexpected week off in less than two week’s time!
Posted by elcanguro76 
