Korean Job Discussion Forums

[inseoul]

updated oct 22nd....my "mate" got out of the country while waiting for appeal hearing and will most likely not come back. the first hearing the guy produced medical "receipts of 4.5 million own and judge said injury must have been so serious so fined him 4 mil. for appeal he had to resubmit receipts and they only came to 1 mil. if the appeal court do the right thing and reverse/lower fine in his absence he may come back.

so be warned, fake medical receipts and bribes to pay up to 15 mil if you are a foreigner and hit a korea. and the cops and even the first judge sat back and let it happen.

updated may 10th

my friend refused to pay a fee to the guy he hit, so went to court. was fined w4 million by judge. has appealed to high court which buys more time. couple of months.

the korean guy was called as a witness and changed his story 3 times while under oath. he also lied:
- said he was trying to leave the nightclub when hit
- when told a witness saw him fighting with a girl, he said he was talking to the girl
- finally admitted he "was pulling on her sleeves a little bit".

how cna you be pulling on a girls sleeves as you try to " leave a nightclub".

anyway, the judge bought it.

he also said under oath that he had to spend 10 days in hospital getting surgery on his eye. he gave the dates as jan 7th to 17th. my friend produced a letter from his lawyer saying she had called the hospital on the 11th and they said he had left the hospital "some days earlier" (but would not give any other details due to privacy rules).

so in court, while under oath, he lied about fighting the girl and either the length of time of dates of being in hospital, but the judge was still willing to accept this.

crazy shhiitt.

anyway, friend is appealing on the basis of these two things, and the fact that korea promotes itself (and "Hi Seoul") as being foreigner friendly place for investors, businessmen etc, but one can still view a korean guy throwing his girlfriend around in the heart of the foreign nightlife area, with the result that the korean guy will be rewarded and the foreigner severely punished if they try to do what would be expected of them back in the developed world.

go korea!!!

prosecutor actually asked for 12 months in jail, and they all played that one out as long as they could for the enjoyment of it. then expected my friend to be over the moon at his w4,000,000 fine.

civil suit still to follow....maybe another w4mil or so, but this time he will have to show all his hospital receipts which may be interesting.

there is a very real chance this korean smuckk does this shiit for a living in itaewon.


updated 23/01:

they rang the guy today and told him they will settle for 5million, as long as its paid all in one sum before criminal case. so they started at 6mill, then went up to 15 mill after prosecutors meeting, now back at 5million. i guess they see the risk he will just skip the Country somehow. i stress the point, this guy has no bruising and only two small cut scars around his eye just 2.5 weeks after the event, but he has 4million of certified paid medical receipts and a doctors letter saying he needs abother 4mill worth of surgery, but is now willing to accept 5mill total.

A friend I used to work with and occasionally bump into, had a very interesting story to share on the weekend.

It sounds like a new kind of scam that I have not yet come across and thought it may be interesting to post the story here and see if any others stories or info might help shed some light.

This guy was at a nightclub when he noticed a Korean guy throwing around a Korean girl at the back of bar, just behind him.

There were security guys in the club but the guy stood up without thinking and grabbed the Korean guy and pulled him away from the girl.

The Korean guy took a swing at him and he responded in kind, resulting in a nice shiner for the Korean guy and a cut on his face.

The security guards showed up shortly after and hauled them both across the street toi the police station. Cage nightclub in Itaewon if you would like to know good places to avoid.

The police took statements from both parties. The Korean guy had a whole bunck of friends who showed up and gave statements also, and the girl who was being dragged around by her hair did not lay any complaint. Whether she was intimidated or they were really just playing around, the guy is still not sure. But he did think he was helping someone out at the time.

The guy was kept at the Yongsan station overnight (for over 8 hours) and eventually released.

He was then called back in on the following Tuesday to meet the guy and try to make a �negotiation� to avoid criminal charges.

The guy bought an English speaking friend and they claimed the guy (Mr Kim) was instructed by his doctor that he would need surgery to prevent bleeding to his eye causing a loss of vision and that this would cost 6 million own.

This was three or four days after the incident and he apparently had no bandages or stiches at all. Just some bruising and a heeling cut under his eye.

The guy was not shown any documentation from the hospital or doctor and expected to sign over 6 million won on the spot.

He refused and as a result was summoned into the Korean prosecutor�s office to give another statement.

He was provided with a translator at this meeting and this time the hospital bills were presented. They totalled 4 million won but it was claimed more work was needed to correct his nose etc��They had originally claimed the guy would have to stay in hospital for 6 weeks. This was then changed to say he needed ongoing medical care for 6 weeks, to the simple fact that it would be a 6 week period till full recovery.

Even the prosecutor seemed to have this confused.

So he gave his statement and the prosecutor told him he would not �detain� him as he said he would try to make a negotiation to pay money to the man.

A few days later (just prior to the weekend and perhaps explaining why he was a bit down), he met the two guys again and this time they asked for 9 million, as his doctor had apparently said he would need plastic surgery now to fix his cut and nose. Apparently they met in a coffee shop and by this stage ( a few weeks after the incident) the guy has no bruising, no stitches and just a small cut under his eye. That�s it, but its going to take him six weeks to recover and cost 9million in medical bills.

He offered them 5 million over 8 months and they refused, and said they would sue him in court in a civil case.

So, the guy will be summoned soon to court to face a judge and receive a criminal judgement (and a fine as he understands). Presumably no jail time.

Then he will be sued in court on a civil charge, and the guys said if he didn�t agree to the 9 million now, it would include time off work and lawyers fees by the time it went to court and would be more like 15million won.

How�s that for a story?

Sitting in a bar one minute, up for 15million plus Korean court fine (maybe 1-2 million).

He said the Immigration guys have been sending a courier to his door every Monday with a letter explaining he was not allowed to leave the Country for another week. Presumably these will keep arriving until the criminal case has been heard and fine paid.

He doesn�t know if he will be prevented from leaving the Country once the criminal charges have been sorted, but it doesn�t sound good if these guys are so confident they will be able to sue him and so didn�t take the 5 million offered.

They told him the guys has insurance so it hasn�t actually cost him a cent anyway. He gets it all back from his insurance company.

He went and spoke to a lawyer by the name of Laurel Choi who advertises in the Herald newspaper but said she was charging him 200,000 per hour and did not know the answers to any of his questions, then asked for 3million down payment to proceed. So he is not so keen to go back and see her.

I guess he could be screwed, but just thought it would be interesting to see what information is out there in the esl online domain and perhaps someone has some useful tips on how best to deal with this.

I suggested an overnight fishing boat to China.
Any stories, info to share on this?

Seems to me there is scam going on and most likely involves a friendly doctor with the same last name.

James.

[Adventurer]

I have heard of similar stories. It is like the way things were back home people would claim all kinds of things to get a ton of money from the other party but insurance companies back home have more or less cracked down on that. I remember once getting into an accident and someone telling me to get as much money as possible. That wasn't what I was after. However, the corruption here is worse. And they know you are a foreigner i.e. they can get away with anything almost. If this was done to Korean Canadians or Americans or Korean residents of North America, they would make a big stink of it here in the media.

[Qinella]

Yeah that guy is getting screwed real bad. I do not envy him.

Just remember guys -- Korea is not the place to be a hero when you see a dude wailing on his girlfriend. If you have to do anything, just restrain the offenderm but don't start swinging.

[Cynical Optimist]

[SuperFly]

The slow boat to China, chill-out-for-awhile-come-back-next-year sounds like a great option.

[Ya-ta Boy]

And people post indignant post after indignant post commenting on Koreans not intervening in other people's quarrels.

[sadsac]

How many times has it been posted about not being chivalrous and intervening in disputes between Korean guys and their girlfriends. If it's true, then it becomes a very expensive lesson. It aint Kansas Dorothy, let them wail on each other and if it bothers you, then move on.

[namja]

Dude that's just wrong!

[jaganath69]

You cannot get justice here in a dispute with a local. The authorities will side with a citizen in 99% of the cases.

[Pyongshin Sangja]

[europe2seoul]

Why doesn't he contact his embassy?

And yeah - do not intervene into anything what other people are doing except if someone starts hitting you. Dunno why he even went there...nobody in the club did that, security guys didn't and then this guy thinks he is some wild cowboy. Sit & drink your drink and DO NOT get involved, ever. In Korea or outside Korea since its not your business.

[ChuckECheese]

Hiring a hitman and getting rid of the plaintiff is cheaper way to go.

[kermo]

[periwinkle]

I think a trip on the hydrofoil to Fukoka (sp?) is a good idea. That guy is getting royally screwed. Maybe he could borrow a friend's passport for the journey and later mail the passport back to the friend.

[bellum99]

I will never understand people...this is just another example of why Korea is not the place to be a hero. Even the skanky Korean bar girl didn't want to make a statement and he was helping her. You have to wonder what the hell was going through the girl's mind.

----DO NOT HELP THE GIRLS IN THESE SITUATIONS...IF THEY DIDN"T LIKE IT THEN THEY WOULD SAY SOMETHING (LIKE...HELP).