영국사람

If I were Korean…

…and all other things being equal, what would my concerns be?

I often talk with the wife about how Korean’s seem to be very good at working themselves up over minor issues, with the flimsiest of evidence to support their claims. At the same time, they seem to be amazingly successful at ignoring real problems in their society.

Koreans are doing an amazing job of protesting the imminent resumption of US beef imports. They also enjoy the odd paranoia induced crackdown and/or protest on English Teachers, migrant workers, and Japan. Usually, these protests are based on the rumour, hearsay, and fabricated or exaggerated evidence.

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South Korea implements tougher penalties for Pedophiles

The new administration is working hard to change some of Korea’s more absurd practices. It seems that they have now decided to get tough on sexual predators who target children. This is a crime that is often ignored in Korea. Every Korean knows about the funny “Burberry man”, who likes to stand outside schools and whack off for the kids. The girls are conditioned to believe that they are harmless, and that they will get good grades if they see one. They don’t ever seem to consider the fact that this behaviour can (and often does) escalate.

In a male dominated society, women and children are often powerless when it comes to punishing the men involved in sexual crime. To be a single mother in this society, or to come from a broken home, is considered shameful. Even when people are willing to go against the grain and actually report people for child abuse, the police are often unwilling to act. Part of this stems from a system (changed in January 2008), where men owned the women and children in their clan. A daughter was her fathers property until she married, and then ownership transferred to her new husband. Thankfully, this has changed in the eyes of the law, thought it will take some more time before the (male dominated) culture adopts the new legislation.

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I am disgusted at the "Justice" system in this country!

I don’t want to go on about this case too much, but I do wish to offer what help I can to get publicity for one of the most horrible stories I have heard in Korea.

Stephanie White, and English professor at one of the Universities in Korea, went to a busy sauna with her 14 year old son, Michael. Something happened (and nobody really knows what happened) and he died. What then follows is a tale of mistakes, incompetence, and what seems to be cover-ups.

The mother has been told that, in order for an investigation to be conducted, she needs a lawyer. The police have not interviewed any potential witnesses, because they want witnesses to come forward rather than have to bother with sending detectives out to detect. When Stephanie took her friend to give a statement, she was told that she could not, as the police have the day off! Yep… apparently all of them have the day off.

What she does know is that Michael was allowed to float in the shallow pool for over 15 minutes before anybody decided to act. When an ambulance was called, he was reported as being dead, even though he was still breathing. Stephanie was not informed that anything was wrong for a VERY long time, despite there being just 2 foreign women in the woman’s side of the Sauna. The other was her friend!

When the ambulance arrived, they were intending to just transport a body, and when they realised he was not DOA, they screwed up the CPR. Then, at the hospital, the doctors appear to have been unwilling to do very much to save him, just as the police are unwilling to hold anybody accountable, despite saying that they treat it as a murder first, and an accident second.

I really can not do this story justice. EVERYBODY should listen to the interview Stephanie conducted with the excellent Seoul Podcast. She comes across as being a very rational person who is not seeking revenge, but instead just wants answers! Please, just listen to the story.

E-2 restrictions to be relaxed – Hagwon owners peeved!

Lee Myung Bak, a man who needs to get his country back on side, is showing no signs of slowing down. Since starting his term just a few months ago he has been following through on his pledge to make Korea more accessible to foreigners, much to the annoyance of those who voted him into power. Since the introduction of the new E-2 visa rules that were designed to make things harder for foreign English teachers, he has been working to make conditions here a little better.

Not only has he managed to upset the electorate by moving to resume imports on US beef, a cause of protest throughout the country, but he has also been working to ratify the Korea-US FTA. The Korean people see this as something of a betrayal, as they believe that the world should buy Korean goods, but the Korean people should not be allowed to buy cheap foreign goods. (Sure, this is a simplified version of events, but essentially the truth when all is said and done). 

The new requirements introduced mandatory drug checks (good in principle, but poorly implemented), an interview to be held at the Korean consulate of your home country (bad), and a mandatory criminal record check (again, good but poorly implemented), and degrees validated and notarised in your home country (ridiculous).

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Korean Banks and Internet Sites to be more Accessible to Foreigners

Two consistent annoyances for foreign residents in Korea have been addressed by the government this weekend. Pressure will be put on the Banking sector to end their unfair discriminatory practices (Part 2 here), and Internet services will also be opened to foreign residents. Unfortunately, the Korea Herald website is garbage, and doesn’t allow me to link directly, but I have prepared a package for you.

These 2 issues have caused untold headaches for foreigners in the country. The banking practices have long been a nuisance imposed by the banks, not the government. It has become common practice for banks to refuse credit cards, and more importantly, international ATM cards to foreigners. Those foreigners that had international cards have found them to be canceled without anybody taking the time to inform them.

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A Crackdown on Marriage Brokers and better integration for foreign spouses.

It seems that the South Korean government have finally been shamed into altering the system for helping men find wives overseas, and have outlined plans to help these women better integrate themselves within Korean society. I find it astonishing that the government of Cambodia, a poor country, were able to recognise these problems and force the government of the worlds 11th largest economy into finally acting to protect these vulnerable women. I say women, because these guidelines are obviously set up to help men finding wives from third world countries. Hopefully, I will have an opportunity to personally test them and see how well they cater to men who have decided to settle with Korean wives.

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Cambodia bans women from marrying Korean men

NOTE: Please bear with me on this! As this is a new blog, I need to give a ton of background information!

It is no secret that, for men in South Korea, finding a wife is not as easy as it once was. In a country where it is considered a duty of men to provide a mail heir, getting married is a high priority for most South Korean males. The problem is, not all Korean men can be considered eligible bachelors and Korean women are able to set their sights higher than was once possible.

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An Introduction

I suppose I should post an introduction to myself and my blog. I have been keeping a personal (private) Korea blog for some time, but as I have settled into a more mundane existence here in Korea, I find that my personal experiences have become less interesting to myself and others. At the same time, my desire to comment on Korean society has grown, and so I have decided to shift the emphasis of my writings and so have moved my writings here. Here is my introduction post written for the “about” section. It is intended to give laymen a simple understanding of Korea and the issues in the country today.

The Ranting Englishman is an EFL teacher in Korea. He is married to a Korean woman, and will soon be father to a Korean girl. This blog is intended to be a place for him to post his rants about living a life as a foreigner in Korea.

Korea is a complicated place, and the culture more so. Often describes as the “Hermit Kingdom”, they have historically tried to isolate themselves from external influence. This policy of isolation is largely due to the treatment they have received from neighbouring countries in the past. Geographically placed between China and Japan, they have suffered under the influence of both countries, and many aspects of Korean culture are directly taken from their former masters, Confucianism being the most obvious example.

In recent (20th century) history, Korea was annexed by Japan, and the people suffered many misfortunes at the hands of their colonial rulers. The Korean people were stripped of their language, and forced to take Japanese names. The crimes committed by the Japanese (often with the help of privileged Koreans) are too numerous to list here, but can be easily researched.

Near the end of WWII the Japanese retreated from Korea. The USA and the USSR had made an agreement to temporarily occupy of Korea. The USSR were to control the northern part of the country (which borders China and Russia), whilst the US were given control of the south.

Each side wanted to give control of the country to a political sympathiser, the US were not particularly keen on granting the USSR full control of Korea by allowing them to install their own leader to control the entire country. As the two sides could not reach an immediate agreement, they each installed a leader area they controlled, and US forces left the peninsula. A divided Korea was understood by both parties to be temporary arrangement, but rising tensions along the border became all out war when the North marched on the South. The US returned to Korea to assist in repelling the communist North, and China soon joined forces with the South. The war lasted for 3 years before a ceasefire was agreed. Korea is still divided, and the two countries are still ‘at war’.

In the latter part of the 20th century, the South Korean economy has flourished. The industrialisation of the once devastated country has been incredible, and they are now listed as the 11th largest economy in the world. The large corporations (Samsung, LG, Daewoo, Hyundai, etc.) control a lot of the wealth in the country, and wealth here often equals power. These corporations are often free to act with impunity, and in some cases illegal activities by these corporations have been treated leniently so as not to negatively impact the economy. As a newly industrialised nation, many of the laws have been unable to keep pace, and corruption is not uncommon at all levels of Korean society.

Gender equality laws are outdated, and are backed up by the bastardisation of Confucianist thinking that prevails in Korea. Women are second class citizens, and this belief is backed up by the legal system.

Korea is reluctantly opening itself up to foreign influence, through necessity rather than desire. Koreans feel a need for English language acquisition, and so allow foreign instructors to work in the country. There are many restrictions placed on immigrants to Korea, and these restrictions are often given legitimacy by government institutions. Immigration laws allow employers a great level of control over workers, and injustices are overlooked when the wronged party is not Korean. Racist banking laws are often written into legislation (though just as often are not) and the Police will almost always side with a Korean over a foreigner.

The events of the first half of the 20th century are still fresh in the minds of the Korean people and they are mistrustful of all foreign interaction. Despite the losses incurred by allied forces during the Korean War, and the subsequent American presence that has protected Korea from any further incursions, there is a decidedly anti-American feeling in Korea.

Finally, progress in Korea is being held back by a tendency for the Korean people to completely over-react to information, without any regard to validity.

This blog will be my place to rant, as much for my sanity as that of my wife. Over the past few weeks I have been angered by a number of news stories that have hit the foreigner blogs in Korea, and I feel a need to say my piece. The current US Beef fiasco has been my breaking point, but is by no means the least important thing to me. In the past few weeks a rapist was set free because his victim was wearing jeans and jeans are difficult to remove. Never mind the 20 weeks of hospital treatment required!, a perverted principal went back to school after photographing a young girls thighs on the subway (and slapping her for objecting), the attempted abduction of a child that was ignored by Police (he was drunk, so that’s ok! Thankfully, the President went apeshit after seeing the video and this recently released pedophile was arrested again) or the Police who would not arrest a man who was raping his stepdaughter because it was not their job!

I hope to base my rants on the injustices that face women, children and foreigners in Korea. My wife is a Korean woman, and my daughter will be a Korean woman. I will also reserve the right to post comment on any other thing I see fit!

Finally, if you are looking for weighty argument, please go visit the Metropolitician’s blog (the best in Korea, according to me). This is a place to rant!