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Don't Teach Kids! You could go to Prison!!
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GoldMember



Joined: 24 Oct 2006

PostPosted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 6:17 pm    Post subject: Don't Teach Kids! You could go to Prison!! Reply with quote

Yea I know this sounds alarming, but hot off the press is this:

http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=102&oid=001&aid=0001896471
A 37 New Zealander in Busan has been arrested for supposedly molesting a Child.
I'm not one for defending Child Molesters, and I believe in innocence until proven guilty, but consider this:
It's VERY easy to make a false accusation in Korea against a foreigner. With the Uri Nara Mentality, Koreans will lie in order to protect one of there own.
If they lie and are found out to be lieing, there is no penalty for perjury, therefore there is only up side no downside.
There is no disincentive to wrongfull prosecution. Would a person who is innocent be able to sue for damages? Forget it, Korean Judges don't entertain he notion of pecuniary damages. Even if you had damages awarded, chances are you can't collect.
Police can hold you in prison I believe for up to 30 days with no charge. Forget about Habeus Corpus.
You might have to spend 20 mill or more on legal fees defending yourself.
Prosecutors here have been known to want to put a foreigner in prison merely because doing so is for Korea's honor. Nothing to do with guilt or innocence.
Be VERY careful out there.
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Paul_Zerzan



Joined: 26 Sep 2007

PostPosted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 6:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Teaching kindergarten is no job for a grown man anyway.
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Yu_Bum_suk



Joined: 25 Dec 2004

PostPosted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 6:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It all depends on your relationship with your school. If they really don't like you, that's one of many things they could try. If your school, coworkers, and students like you, you face far less risk of false accusations than you would in the west.
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R. S. Refugee



Joined: 29 Sep 2004
Location: Shangra La, ROK

PostPosted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 7:09 pm    Post subject: Re: Don't Teach Kids! You could go to Prison!! Reply with quote

GoldMember wrote:
Yea I know this sounds alarming, but hot off the press is this:

http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=102&oid=001&aid=0001896471
A 37 New Zealander in Busan has been arrested for supposedly molesting a Child.
I'm not one for defending Child Molesters, and I believe in innocence until proven guilty, but consider this:
It's VERY easy to make a false accusation in Korea against a foreigner. With the Uri Nara Mentality, Koreans will lie in order to protect one of there own.
If they lie and are found out to be lieing, there is no penalty for perjury, therefore there is only up side no downside.
There is no disincentive to wrongfull prosecution. Would a person who is innocent be able to sue for damages? Forget it, Korean Judges don't entertain he notion of pecuniary damages. Even if you had damages awarded, chances are you can't collect.
Police can hold you in prison I believe for up to 30 days with no charge. Forget about Habeus Corpus.
You might have to spend 20 mill or more on legal fees defending yourself.
Prosecutors here have been known to want to put a foreigner in prison merely because doing so is for Korea's honor. Nothing to do with guilt or innocence.
Be VERY careful out there.


A great deal of what this OP is saying is true. I watched a good friend go through 2 years of hell. He was accused on a minor crime by a Korean nutball professor who had just returned from a frustrating and very unsuccessful 2-year stint hanging out at a well-known religious uni in Utah. Apparently, she believed that she had been racially discriminated against at this uni. She also wasn't a member of this particular religion which probably didn't help any.

She had only been back a month when my buddy went to a private college down south that was owned by her family to work at a summer camp. I was down there at this camp too and was a witness to the incident in question, so I knew she was just making up stories to stroke her own sick, arrogant ego.

She told him and another teacher there that she wanted revenge on "white" people for the racial discrimination she believed she experienced in Utah. She told them that she couldn't take revenge against the alleged racists in Utah because she had no power there, but that now that she was back in Korea where she had power and prestige she would take her revenge against the first "white" people she could. Her quote was, "You no racial discrminate me. ME RACIAL DISCRMINATE YOU!!!" And then she filed phony charges against him and the Canadian teacher.

With only the flimsiest (easily disprovable) evidence, the prosecutors in this little town ran him around for 2 years through 3 courts - lower court, appeals court, and the Supreme Court. He won in every court. Even so, it cost him considerable time, money, and peace of mind, as all of us who had to listen to his troubles for the 2 years know all to well.

[NOTE TO FOREIGNERS: They have double jeopardy (well, triple jeopardy, actually) in Korea meaning that even after you're found NOT GUILTY, the prosecutor can go and complain about the judge at the first trial not getting it right, and have another go at you. That is, he can appeal your acquittal. They say acquittals are so rare in this country that the prosecutor will lose face if he loses a trial, so he will do almost anything to avoid that even when he knows you're not guilty.]

Anyway, he luckily got honest judges who refused to rule against him when there was no credible evidence at all. The judge even shouted at a flunky from the college who was sent into court to commit perjury. Apparently, he got irritated listening to such obvious lies.

Anyway, he avoided getting a phony criminal record which may be pretty handy given the new E-2 rules. Now, he's trying to get financial compensation from this college and its perjuring flunky in lieu of filing criminal charges against them. Too optimistic, I'd say.

He did manage to avoid being arrested or ever spending a night in jail during this Kafkaesque experience.


Last edited by R. S. Refugee on Wed Jan 16, 2008 7:29 pm; edited 4 times in total
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spliff



Joined: 19 Jan 2004
Location: Khon Kaen, Thailand

PostPosted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 7:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yu_Bum_suk wrote:
It all depends on your relationship with your school. If they really don't like you, that's one of many things they could try. If your school, coworkers, and students like you, you face far less risk of false accusations than you would in the west.


Laughing Wow...just...WOW!
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GoldMember



Joined: 24 Oct 2006

PostPosted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 7:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Some people here just don't get it.
"Oh my student's love me, nothing will ever happen to me"
How ignorant can you be.

Consider this (not in Korea) the parents of children taught by a British Teacher, dobbed her in because of a Teddy Bear, knowing full well it could be a death sentence for her.

Though not a severe as some African countries, Korea does not have rule of law!

In the example wriiten by Refuge, where the Judge was annoyed by the perjurer. Consider this the Judge was annoyed, well how about laying charges against the perjurer. No it's not going to happen. This is what I mean ZERO downside, if some Koreans decide they want to get you.

Even if you win your court case. Your life is hell, and NOTHING happens to your accusers.

Call me paranoid, but I'd call this a high risk situation. As the foreigner your the one bearing all the risk and all the downside.

All it takes is ONE pissed off mother, and your in deep poo.
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Captain Corea



Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul

PostPosted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 7:32 pm    Post subject: Re: Don't Teach Kids! You could go to Prison!! Reply with quote

R. S. Refugee wrote:
GoldMember wrote:
Yea I know this sounds alarming, but hot off the press is this:

http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=102&oid=001&aid=0001896471
A 37 New Zealander in Busan has been arrested for supposedly molesting a Child.
I'm not one for defending Child Molesters, and I believe in innocence until proven guilty, but consider this:
It's VERY easy to make a false accusation in Korea against a foreigner. With the Uri Nara Mentality, Koreans will lie in order to protect one of there own.
If they lie and are found out to be lieing, there is no penalty for perjury, therefore there is only up side no downside.
There is no disincentive to wrongfull prosecution. Would a person who is innocent be able to sue for damages? Forget it, Korean Judges don't entertain he notion of pecuniary damages. Even if you had damages awarded, chances are you can't collect.
Police can hold you in prison I believe for up to 30 days with no charge. Forget about Habeus Corpus.
You might have to spend 20 mill or more on legal fees defending yourself.
Prosecutors here have been known to want to put a foreigner in prison merely because doing so is for Korea's honor. Nothing to do with guilt or innocence.
Be VERY careful out there.


A great deal of what this OP is saying is true. I watched a good friend go through 2 years of hell. He was accused on a minor crime by a Korean nutball professor who had just returned from a frustrating and very unsuccessful 2-year stint hanging out at a well-known religious uni in Utah. Apparently, she believed that she had been racially discriminated against at this uni. She also wasn't a member of this particular religion which probably didn't help any.

She had only been back a month when my buddy went to a private college down south that was owned by her family to work at a summer camp. I was down there at this camp too and was a witness to the incident in question, so I knew she was just making up stories to stroke her own sick, arrogant ego.

She told him and another teacher there that she wanted revenge on "white" people for the racial discrimination she believed she experienced in Utah. She told them that she couldn't take revenge against the alleged racists in Utah because she had no power there, but that now that she was back in Korea where she had power and prestige she would take her revenge against the first "white" people she could. Her quote was, "You no racial discrminate me. ME RACIAL DISCRMINATE YOU!!!" And then she filed phony charges against him and the Canadian teacher.

With only the flimsiest (easily disprovable) evidence, the prosecutors in this little town ran him around for 2 years through 3 courts - lower court, appeals court, and the Supreme Court. He won in every court. Even so, it cost him considerable time, money, and peace of mind, as all of us who had to listen to his troubles for the 2 years know all to well.

[NOTE TO FOREIGNERS: They have double jeopardy (well, triple jeopardy, actually) in Korea meaning that even after you're found NOT GUILTY, the prosecutor can go and complain about the judge at the first trial not getting it right, and have another go at you. That is, he can appeal your acquittal. They say acquittals are so rare in this country that the prosecutor will lose face if he loses a trial, so he will do almost anything to avoid that even when he knows you're not guilty.]

Anyway, he luckily got honest judges who refused to rule against him when there was no credible evidence at all. The judge even shouted at a flunky from the college who was sent into court to commit perjury. Apparently, he got irritated listening to such obvious lies.

Anyway, he avoided getting a phony criminal record which may be pretty handy given the new E-2 rules. Now, he's trying to get financial compensation from this college and its perjuring flunky in lieu of filing criminal charges against them. Too optimistic, I'd say.

He did manage to avoid being arrested or ever spending a night in jail during this Kafkaesque experience.


Wow, thanks for sharing this.

Any more details for gossip mongers like myself? Wink
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R. S. Refugee



Joined: 29 Sep 2004
Location: Shangra La, ROK

PostPosted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 7:43 pm    Post subject: Re: Don't Teach Kids! You could go to Prison!! Reply with quote

Captain Corea wrote:
R. S. Refugee wrote:
GoldMember wrote:
Yea I know this sounds alarming, but hot off the press is this:

http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=102&oid=001&aid=0001896471
A 37 New Zealander in Busan has been arrested for supposedly molesting a Child.
I'm not one for defending Child Molesters, and I believe in innocence until proven guilty, but consider this:
It's VERY easy to make a false accusation in Korea against a foreigner. With the Uri Nara Mentality, Koreans will lie in order