Korean Job Discussion Forums

[truthfulchat]

As I stated on an old topic I have a meeting with the Incheon Free Economic Zone director on a variety of foreigner problems and issues.

This is IFEZ:
It says the purpose of IFEZ is to bring tourism and trade to all of Northeast Asia not just Korea. It also was established by the Korean government for all of Korea in relation to foreign workers. Furthermore, on the home page you can see where I talk about counsel (ombudsman).

This is excerpt from website: http://eng.ifez.go.kr/guide/ifez_about/ifez.asp

IFEZ provides various types of government administrative services to promote a comfortable and friendly living environment for foreign residents. Now, all business-related regulations in Korea are being streamlined to meet global standards. For instance, English is now an official language for processing all government documents. In addition, customs and immigration services for foreign workers have been improved, and social services will include foreign hospitals and international schools.
To expedite all government services quickly and efficiently in one location, the Government of Korea established the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority to administer all IFEZ-related administrative matters

Right now I will bring up problems that are posted on here but as of now I will keep it with the issue and only cite few specific cases if needed. I know one would be the Bill Kapoun death but since the facts seem to be different from the forums, all I will point out what is wrote in the Korean article unless any friends or family can further the information. I will also compile any problems that foreigners are having on Dave's ESL and keep it general at best.

Since this is a formal meeting I like to keep it professional.

[agentX]

The banking issue seems to be a hot-button issue. Specifically, the overseas ATM card issue. There's a lot of threads on that here so I won't go into specifics.

Improving website access for foreigners to Korean-based websites, for events in the area as well as providing useful government info- specifically immigration. It's hard to attend an event or bring the right thing to the right place if the website is inaccurate, out of date, or not synchronized with the government or business office associated to it.

The honoring of contracts. Of course, a lot has been said about that here, so no need to go into details. But I imagine a better/more efficient means of preventing hagwons from not paying severance, taxes, etc, or at least a more effective method of resolving conflicts between teacher and hagwon (on this issue)would be essential.

Start with those 3 issues and see what happens.

[hogwonguy1979]

[truthfulchat]

Well the consensus that I have seen from English teachers in these forums is it really does not matter if the institution violates the contract or even the law. This was at the top of my list. But a lot of English teachers have said that the teacher should have been aware that the institutions may violate contracts or break the law, making the institution not liable. However, the banking issue the consensus says that is a problem.

Now if I see more people suggesting institution abide by the contracts and laws, then it will become more hot of a topic to discuss with him.

I may go ahead and discuss it anyway because abiding by the contract was a big issue personally, I just wanted to point out the consensus.