영국사람

I think I may sue somebody!

So, my email inbox has been filling up with gay porn, as has the comments section of this blog. Somebody has also anonymously registered a domain: http://mikeyatesisadick.com

I  thought it was quite amusing, and was laughing it off. For a moment, I suspected it may be the person who is suing me, but the piss-poor implementation of the site showed that it was written by somebody without any real imagination or intelligence. For all of my accusers faults, I give him more credit than that.

The actual site was something along the lines of:

Mike Yates is a Dick!

He has the following websites:

yonguksaram.com
afek.info

And that was it… Wow. I’m a bastard!

Like I said… hardly worth my time and energy, and whilst it raised a chuckle, it was all harmless fun. The owner of the site was posting here, and I was happy to allow it. Then, yesterday, he posted my mothers home address in the UK. He went on to bitch at me here for ‘deleting it’ (it was in moderation as he had created a link in the post, and all links get moderated since he started spamming porn sites here).

So.. what info did I have?

Well… the poster was obviously from the USA (or possibly Canada) as no right-minded Brit/Aussie/Kiwi would ever call me a dick. Cunt, yes, but never a dick! (I checked – mikeyatesisacunt.com is available). He also knows enough to use a proxy server. Of course, people make mistakes. His mistake is that he has posted here a number of times, and has used different names. I have removed all of his comments so that he can not post here again using those email addresses and proxy accounts.

Here are some screenshots of some of his comments (I had deleted a bunch of porn spam), in descending date order:

This is the most recent batch I found. He has tried to bypass moderation by putting in my ID on this site as his website, and by putting in my (unrelated to this site) email address. Note the matching ip addresses. The part I blocked out is my mothers home address.

Here is his first post as MYIAD:

It is a different ip address.

I figured that this same prick has probably posted here before with a real name, and being the idiot he is, he would not have had to good sense to use a proxy every time. I was correct.

‘Bill’ (not his real name, so no need to censor it) is MYIAD.

As is Jules (not his real name either).

What I don’t understand though, is why Jules suddenly changed from being supportive to opposing me when he changed his name…. allow me to answer!

Sometime in the first 2 weeks of July, a complete fucking arsehole made it known on Dave’s that he wanted to get into AFEK without actually fulfilling the registration requirements. Let’s call him RLT. After RLT made it clear that he was a complete fucking arsehole, he submitted an application. Being something of an arsehole myself, I declined it on a technicality. He started acting like a moron in email and demanding that I do things for him. he then went on to threaten to spam my inbox. I blocked his email address. He made his request for membership on the 15th July, and my patience with him wore out on the 17th July after receiving 6 emails from him.

He got angry. On the 20th, he posted on Daves that “Mike Yates is a dick”. He seemed quite proud of himself for announcing my name to the world about 6 months after it became common knowledge. On the 25th, he registered his new domain, being sure to check the anonymous coward box. He hosted his shitty site on tumblr, anonymously. (I had the site removed within 20 minutes of the address being published).

Here’s the thing… He seems to have forgotten something…

When he emailed me from his yahoo email account, the header information contains an ip that matches one of the ip’s used in the piccies above. Put simply, he fucked up.

In applying for AFEK, he provided proof of his F-visa status by way of an F-4 visa stamp that contains a lot of information about him.

Mr RL, 31, of LA, I would think twice about visiting Korea to teach in August. F-4 visa or not, I guarantee one of the first things you will do after arriving is be answering a few questions for the SMPA.

Have a nice day, fuckhead!

A little more about my libel case

I received a nice email today from the unnamed person who is planning to sue me, explaining that I am subject to a criminal investigation that has been transferred to Seoul (I know – I requested the transfer) and that I there will be a private case brought against me later.

He went on to threaten my visa status (laughable) and tell me how expensive this is going to be for me. He assumes that the judgment will be in his favour, and that my ‘public interest’ defence is not going to be adequate.

Apparently, all of this trouble can disappear for the bargain price of 4 million won, along with an ‘apology’ on this site that would be written by the unnamed person.

Here’s the thing: I’m not sorry, and I am not paying any money.

Did the financial requirements for an F-visa get ditched?

The Korea Times have recently reported on the relaxation of the naturalisation process. Whilst I would never consider abandoning my British Passport, there was something of interest at the bottom of the piece:

It also eliminated the requirement that spouses have 30 million won. “If the couple has been married for more than two years and prove their sincerity in marriage, they don’t have to have bank balance more than 30 million won or real estate,” he said.

As the F-2 and F-5 visa come before the naturalisation process can begin, should this be interpreted as a relaxation of the F-visa rules too?

The 30 million won requirement has been interpreted quite liberally by Immigration in the past. I was able to combine Cheonsae with my employment contract (money I had yet to receive and was unlikely to save) in order to obtain my F-visa. With the removal of the 30m in assets, the F-Visa may have become easier for people to to obtain.

…and for that matter, where do Taxi Driver’s come from?

Yonhap recently published an article detailing some of the issues surrounding Taxi’s in Korea. Koreans and long-term expats already know of some of problems that can be found in the Taxi’s of Seoul, especially the rip-off tactics that some drivers use when it is obvious that you have no knowledge of the area, or are ‘impaired’ in some way.

Less frequently discussed is the idea that some “drivers employed by taxi firms are ex-convicts working under fake IDs.” This is something that my wife has talked about in the past, and some of her experiences with Taxi drivers when she has been travelling in the past have been quite awful.

The apparent oversupply of taxi licenses in the city is something that needs to be addressed, more needs to be done to ensure that quality drivers remain on the roads and the less desirable drivers are weeded out. With the focus over the past year on “Brand Korea”, this is something that could possibly help people leave Korea with a nicer impression of their time here.

The part that really caught my attention in this piece was the final paragraph:

“I think the main problem is that Korean taxi drivers don’t feel a sense of pride or responsibility in their jobs,” said Kim Seung-joon, a researcher at the Seoul Development Institute. “Communicating with men and women from different countries, generations and social classes can be joyful work. We need to revamp the system so that drivers can first change how they think about their jobs.”

It got me thinking about and uncle I have back home. He drives a Hackney cab in Liverpool, and in order to drive one, people are vetted and checked on a number of levels (PDF available here). When you enter a cab in Liverpool, you are usually offered a couple of routed for longer journeys, based on time and cost, and many of the taxi companies make sure that drivers are kept up-to-date about traffic information so that traffic hotspots can be avoided.

The thing that is most important about this uncle of mine is his age. He is still driving at what must be close to (if not over) 70 years old. He has a real love for his job, and other family members often joke that it is his driving that keeps him alive. The most important thing for him is not the actual driving, but the talking. Chatting with other drivers whilst standing at the ranks, or to the thousands of passengers he carries each year is what keeps him young. He has a sharp wit, a keen sense of humour, and a zest for life that is unmatched. A few years ago he broke his arm jet-skiing in Mexico, and he loves his sunshine breaks, taking a few each year with his wife.

When he finally decides to retire, he can sell his ‘plate’ (the license that hangs on the back of his cab) for a tidy sum, or rent out his vehicle to other licensed drivers. Hackney plates add around £40,000 to the price of a used vehicle, or allowing other licensed drivers to ride around in your cab can net you around £18,000 a year in income.

Once again, this makes being a professional driver a real career choice, and not something that people find themselves doing when life deals them an unfortunate hand.

“I say blame the system, not the driver,” said a driver employed by one of the largest taxi firms in Seoul. “I work 18 hours a day and rarely have time for proper meals, but still live hand to mouth.”

“With so many taxis and so few customers, we often have to wait hours in line to pick up passengers,” the driver said. “I’d like to live by the rules and be a good man, but frankly, that is not as easy as it sounds.”

Hey, long-term ‘temporary’ visa holder… Fancy an F-2?

Some time ago, Metropolitician posted a piece about an A-OK visa for long-term residents of Korea who could meet certain criteria. It was something that struck me as a good idea at at the time. Metropolitician was recently a panelist on the Seoul Podcast, and they again discussed the possibility of such a visa.

Guess what folks? It exists. The visa is the F-2-5 Visa, and it is a residential visa that is issued based on length of time in Korea.

Often, people believe that the only way to get residential status here is to be born into it, marry into it, or pay your way into it. Well that simply isn’t true. Korea has an unpublicised F-2 visa that is solely for long-term residents. This visa is so secret that there are just 38 of them in circulation. I have taken the liberty of translating the Korean Government’s own statistics into English (with the Korean original for comparison). Some things I could not translate, as my Korean is… well… shit! Just work your way along to page 100 (English) or page 235 (Korean) of this document (or download the excel file) and check it out.

All that is known so far is that this visa is available to E visa holders (amongst others), you do not need to marry and you do not need to have mega-savings. You MAY need a Korean friend to sponsor you though.

Anyway – if you have been in Korea for a number of years (I would guess 5+), please make your way to your nearest immigration office and enquire about this visa. If you have any successes (or failures), please let me know either in the comments form or use the contact form. Whatever information you can provide will help us all figure out just what you need to do to get this thing!

Moved!

We made it into the new place with ease, despite so much potential for last minute problems. The woman moving into our old place had hinted at there being problems with paying the 10 million deposit that was coming to us. Thankfully, that never turned out to be as bad as it could have been, as I was preparing to camp out at the old place until it was paid. She delivered our cash as we were leaving.

The removals people that the wife had booked were fantastic. They arrived at 8am and set about packing for us. We had not done a single thing. They brought a woman along who set to packing our frozen and chilled food into ice boxes, and she then cleaned the fridges and freezer, as well as the cooker and toaster oven. The men were busy putting all of our belongings into boxes, and to make their job easier, I took the baby out for a walk. I had a coffee at Dunkin Donuts and got back around 10:30.

Everything was packed, and was being lifted down the 12 stories to ground level on the outside of the building. When I saw my guitars being loaded onto the lift I had visions of one of them (my telecaster) being blown off. I gave out a sigh of relief when one of the guys jumped onto the lift and went down the 12 stories holding it steady. Nutter!

We were ready to leave just before 12. The removals people made sure the apartment was clean before we left, and wife and baby got into the removals car whilst I rode on my bike.

I arrived at the new place just after 1, looking quite pink. The sun had burned me nicely! The rest of them were still at least 30 minutes away, but the guy who was leaving was still loading up cars so we had to wait for him to go anyway.

When the removals team arrived,  the woman got straight to work scrubbing the kitchen area. The men gave the floor a once over and then started moving things in an unpacking them for us. My job was to entertain the baby whilst the wife told them where to put things. Once done, we were asked to wait outside for a few minutes whilst they made sure the floors were all mopped clean. By 3:30 they were done. They had unpacked everything and we were in our new home feeling far less stressed than I though possible.

We have somehow managed to find ourselves a very nice compromise. As much as I hate Seoul, I am happy with this place. It feels ‘country’ despite being less than 10 minutes from the subway station. The air is pretty clean, though you notice the difference when you get 5 minutes up the road.

The living room has a window that gives a view of the mountain, and behind us is a nice Buddhist temple. My only gripes are the nasty hill leading up the street, and the lack of elevator, and the huge increase in mosquito bites I get this close to the ground. Still… it’s a nice new place (less than 1 year old) and there is no traffic noise thanks to the trees that act as a nice noise filter. The wife is happy too, as she has just a 20 minute walk to visit her sisters.

There is a nice temple behind the apartment, which adds a some much-needed colour to the area, and there is a nice park opposite with water-jet displays and other assorted oddities. I plan to take the baby there this week as I am sure she will get a kick out of them.

My next task is to find a place to work… I have a few interesting interviews lined up that should allow me to maximise my earning potential thanks to the luxuries of my visa type. I am interviewing for a job tomorrow that I hope I am offered, as the salary is great and the hours are fantastic. If it works out, I will be earning around 40% more than I did in my last job. Good times… or it would be if I ever saw any of it!

A little something about AFEK…

As some readers may know, I maintain the website for AFEK, a site for F-visa holding expats. It seems that some people (The SeoulPodcast) consider AFEK an extension of this blog. That is not true. This blog is my blog. I started it long before AFEK was formed, and though I took a break after the birth of my daughter, I had always intended to return to it.

Zenkimchi thnks that AFEK should be pushing for social change. AFEK is a social networking site for F-Visa holders in Korea. It is not an advocacy group. There are no plans for AFEK to embark on political campaigns, publish press releases, or push for any kind of change in Korea. That is not the point of the site.

Here is what the AFEK forum is about:

• Networking and finding people in a similar situation in YOUR area.
• Living in Korea: Banking, Visa issues, buying cars, furthering your education, Family registration issues, getting passports for children.
• Working: Job opportunites and advice (teaching and non-teaching), setting up a business, publishing.
• Travelling.
• News.
• Socialising: Family days out (a kids picnic could be on the table soon).

The other areas of the site include:

• A Chatroom
• An F-Visa relevant wiki (which will be public at some point in the future)
• A library of guidebooks and legal documents (in multiple languages where possible)
• A gallery to share family photo’s

AFEK is not “old school”. We are family guys (and gals) who are trying to network in order to create a base of friends with similar circumstances in the country we have made our home. My wife is happy about AFEK, as she now has Korean women with whom she can bitch about me and they will understand her complaints. I now have foreign friends who can advise me on bringing up my daughter in Korea.

Some people (actually… that will be the SeoulPodcast group again) think that AFEK is an anti-ATEK group. Again, this is not true. I have been anti-ATEK, but the number of vocally anti-ATEK people who are also AFEK members can be counted on one hand. Most people are fence-sitters, though some are pro-ATEK. Whilst I still fit on the ‘one hand’, I have kept myself out of all ATEK discussions since my last posting on the matter, which was on this blog, and now consider myself a fence-sitter too.

What I find most amusing is that The SeoulPodcast, always quick to admonish the Korean press for their lack of fact-checking has not bothered to contact AFEK to find out what they are about. Joe Zenkimchi is eligible and could have joined up. Instead, he jumped to the conclusion that anybody who has a Korean family and wants to network is a paranoid schizophrenic who is in cahoots with Anti-English Spectrum. Had he contacted me and made that allegation, I would have forwarded the comment that was made on this blog by a member of that organisation in which the sick fuck named my daughter. I could have shown him the post that was later removed (after I cooled down) in which I call out that particular shitbag, and I could have told him the name and the address of the PC Bang that was used to type it. As it is close to the town that Joe lives in, he could have visited it and asked the prick himself. If he had a pair.

But no… I said some bad things about his friend, so that means that all F-Visa holders are bad. And he thinks the Korean media should be held accountable for their yellow journalism? Twat!

NOTE: These comments are the opinions of the author, and are not to be mistaken as official AFEK policy, as AFEK has no official policy.