Korean Job Discussion Forums

[garykasparov]

Another English teacher bites the dust

https://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2007/07/25/200707250007.asp

Since a bogus English teacher was sentenced to six months in jail by the Seoul Central District Court last week, two questions have dominated foreign teacher circles here: Is six months in jail a just sentence for degree forgery? And why was a Canadian jailed for six months, while a recent string of high-profile cases of Koreans committing the same crime are not likely to result in any jail time?
The Seoul court on July 15 sentenced a 30-year-old Canadian to six months in prison for using a fake diploma to get a teaching job at a hagwon. "In the Korean educational system, the character and qualifications of instructors at hagwons are just as important as they are for those teaching in regular schools," the court wrote in its judgment.

"When the accused used forged documents to find employment it was a serious crime in that it disrupts the field of education outside of regular school," it said.


However, the character and qualifications of hagwon directors are rarely questioned and very few owners are held to any respectable standards by the courts at all, even when convicted of contract violation, fraud and other criminal activity, said a disgruntled English teacher in Seoul. "I've never heard of a hagwon director being sent to jail even for one day." A spokesperson for the Canadian Embassy in Seoul told The Korea Herald, "The Embassy of Canada is aware that a Canadian has received a six-month sentence for having used a fraudulent diploma. The embassy officials have been in contact with the individual. Due to the Privacy Act, no further information can be released."

The spokesperson also emphasized that "Canadians are subject to local laws while living and traveling abroad."

As for the question of how the Canadian could seemingly be treated more harshly for committing the same crime as a Korean, Brendon Carr, a foreign legal consultant with Hwang Mok Park law firm in Seoul, said that it is a matter of which laws were in violation. When a Korean presents a fake degree, they are committing forgery or alteration of a private document. But when a foreigner presents a fake degree, they are violating the Immigration Control Act's criminal provisions on top of committing forgery or alteration of a private document.

Carr explained that the maximum sentence for committing "forgery or alteration of a private document, Article 231 of the Korean Criminal Code ... is a jail term of up to five years or a fine of up to 10 million won ($11,000).

"However, the foreigner who submits that fake diploma to the Ministry of Justice to obtain an immigration visa, or the employer who does so, also violates the Immigration Control Act's criminal provisions. That's what's different between the Korean and foreign degree-faker."

The Seoul-based legal consultant also said that police and prosecutors have recently been claiming the employee defrauded the employer of wages for the period of employment, "because if not for the fake diploma the employee would not have been hired. Fraud, Article 347, carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in jail or a fine of up to 20 million won."

But is six months in jail a reasonable sentence?

"We don't have hard data on sentences, but my partner who was a judge says that sentences for forgery are generally pretty light -- usually a fine of 1 million won to 3 million won."

The case of an EFL teacher going down for fake credentials in Korea, though, is nothing new and the general consensus is that the six-month sentence is likely one judge's attempt to deter degree-fakers from entering Korea. Around 416 people have been deported for using fake degrees in Korea, according to ESL Canada sources.

Instances of degree forgery among English teachers in Asia do not represent a dilemma for government regulators and judges, but have approached the status of a plague, if statistics compiled by ESL Canada are taken at face value. A representative of the Toronto-based company, Ross McBride, said that there are between 10 and 15 fake degree printers operating out of Canada, China, Hong Kong, Korea, the Philippines, Singapore, the United States and England.

"I contacted all 12 that I could find and asked how many they sold each year," said McBride via e-mail. He said that they answered between 2,500 and 3,000. The company's website also states that "the best estimate for fake certificates sold in Asia to native English speakers since 1980 is (around) 42,000." A staggering number, considering that his estimation does not even include Thailand, a haven for fake degree makers.

The Canadian company also puts the percentage of individuals using fake degrees to get overseas jobs in the 60 percent range, although the degree to which that applies to the Korean EFL industry is not differentiated in the statistics.

The problem of forged credentials in Korea has gone far beyond the ESL industry in recent years and even reaches into Korea's most distinguished universities. The most high-profile case is Seoul National University's disgraced stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk in 2005.

On July 14, a day before the Canadian was handed his six-month term, the foreign affairs section at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency indicted without detention 39 people -- all Koreans -- including professors and politicians, for reporting fake doctorates to the Korea Research Foundation. They were reportedly received from the unregistered American International University.

The Dong-A Ilbo also reported that a police investigation uncovered that the AIU was established in January 2001 in Guam but the majority of its students were Korean and registered in its Seoul office.

The EFL statistics, even if remotely accurate, should raise alarm bells for Korea's billion-dollar industry that places near-total emphasis on whether or not one has a degree -- and almost nothing on the teaching abilities of educators or whether or not they are TEFL certified.

The EFL community in Korea is mixed on the validity of the six-month sentence.

"It is inappropriate. I think the teacher should have been deported without jail time," said a dissenting teacher in Korea.

But one American teacher told the Herald, "(The six-month sentence) is a good place to start. If it doesn't work, then maybe it's time for Korea to open a facility similar to Guantanamo to hold these Canadians indefinitely, until the issue gets resolved."

But the 600-person Guantanamo detention centre in Cuba would not be nearly big enough. If Korea were left to police the global EFL industry alone, and using the Seoul judge's six-month sentence as precedent, those 41,000 fake degrees would result in 21,000 years in jail.

Korea may need all of Jeju island.

By Matthew Lamers

([email protected])


2007.07.25

[kermo]

[VanIslander]

If a third of the sentence (versus the entire length) is to served then the sentence is great.

Alternatively, if there is bail between the time of conviction and time of sentencing (allowing one to flee the country) then it's good as well, as it'll definitely deter that criminal from every returning to the country (hence the best result, not using up the country's prison space and expenses on a foreigner).

Those with fake degrees listen up: get lost!

[Lizara]

I think it's awesome that the photo accompanying the article was of someone in Seodaemun prison. Relevance? Did they just search their stock photo archives for the word "prison" and use the first picture that came up?

[kermo]

[Sody]

I would agree that six months is a good start. I hope next year they raise the standard and make it 1 year or even 2. I also hope they start giving jail time to hagwon owners who break the law as well.

Sody

[Homer]

Good article...explains it clearly.

[the eye]

Ok, lets see, get caught importing a half kilo of hashish, and you break immigration law, korean narcotics laws, international drug trafficking laws, and you get 1 year.

How do I know? That's what this guy got...
http://news.naver.com/news/read.php?mode=LSD&office_id=055&article_id=0000046807&section_id=102&menu_id=102

Teach at a hogwan with a fake degree, you get 6 months.

Makes sense.

[flakfizer]

I don't get the fake degree thing. I mean, if one needed a PhD or something - but a BA or BS in any major at all? C'mon.

[spliff]

[twg]

[crusher_of_heads]

Maritmer Canadians and their culture of defeatism breed entitlement.


Too bad Koreans don't buy into it like Canadian federal politicians do.

[FistFace]

[traxxe]

Honestly, I think the guy didn't deserve six months for a fake degree. Especially at a Hagwon. Maybe my view is very near sighted but the Hagwon I work at lies about my credentials and every other teacher's credentials to every parent at the school.

Verbal forgery I guess. I hear this is common. I doubt they will ever see prison time for violating such a pristine education system with honor and integrity. Heh, what a damn joke.

If it were a public school, I am fine with it...

Hagwons though? Come on, BS. Hold Hagwons accountable for their crap first. That's like sending a teller to jail for skimming money when the bank pays for blood diamonds under the table everyday and gets away with it.

[Adventurer]