Korean Job Discussion Forums

[prairiemaker]

A few days back I called the India embassy and asked if there is any way I might help the captain of Hebei Spirit, Mr.Chawla and his first mate, Mr. Chetan. As most of you know, both have been imprisoned despite the fact the Hebei Spirit was anchored at port and rammed by a Samsung�s ship. In a lower Korean court they were found innocent. They were tried again in a higher Korean court a second time though and this time they were imprisoned. All the Koreans involved with the accident have been either found innocent, including Samsung, or their fines and sentences dropped or reduced.

After two and half years in Korea I am used to the xenophobic prejudice I see daily, but this just seemed so unjust that I felt compelled to act. I want to make clear I am not a Korean basher, in fact this time last year I wrote an article that defended the Korean government. It is just that the incredible injustice of this entire thing really made me angry.

So, I called the India embassy. I said my wife and I were outraged by the court verdict and we would like to help somehow. To my surprise I was patched through to the secretary of the ambassador and then to the first secretary. The first secretary told me nothing was being done to help the two and that in fact great effort was being made to sweep the whole thing under the rug. They asked me if I would be willing to come to the embassy and meet Mr. Chawla�s and Mr. Chetan�s wives who were leaving the next day to return to India since Korea would not grant them a stay in their visa.

My wife and I left Wonju for Seoul on NewYears Eve morning and met at the Embassy with everyone at three in the afternoon. We finished our meeting around six. Now home the following day I still cannot get the faces of the wives out of my mind, their grief and their just anger. In a few days I will complete my research and try to get their story out here and internationally. There is much to this story that is not being put in print. When the India embassy and the wives spoke with my wife and me we were stunned. We went and had a beer that night, but we neither one finished it. We just no longer felt like celebrating a new year. At midnight we could here the fireworks outside from our hotel room. We both just pulled the covers closer to our faces and hoped to fall asleep.

I will try to get as much publicity for them as I can through my limited writing ability and networking. I hope some of you also will consider trying to get this story more publicity if only by doing nothing else than just telling one Korean how sick it makes you that Korea has done this to two innocent foreigners. I hope you will consider contacting various ecological groups who might be outraged enough to add to the voice that an oil spill occurred causing incredible damage and that those who were really responsible walked away and innocent people were imprisoned. I hope you will ask yourselves how can I help spread the word of this injustice and how I feel about it.

I know for some of you, to become involved at all with this issue will seem stupid and a waste of time. However, I hope some of you recognize that this kind of blatant injustice affects the security and well being of every foreigner standing on Korean soil. If you feel compelled at all to speak out please do. You have much more power than you think.

[Goku]

As much as I think on principal alone you are doing the right thing... and I think certainly that you are valiant...

From a practical and realistic point of view, it may be absurd to think you can make a difference. Although you are a voice, like you said, in a xenophobic culture, your voice matters little.

You will have no weight when talking to authorities, and at this time you do not have the power to make any change.

But certainly good luck. It is an injustice but I think your energies are better diverted to things you can actually change.

[traxxe]

If you need help with anything let me know as I'm outraged about this issue just as you are. Don't let others discourage you. There is never any harm in standing up for what is right. This situation is not right and it is a sad testament to racism in this country.

[exit86]

I think if the OP fills us in here on more of the untold story, many more of us (including myself) would be moved to action. Of course, the MODS will probably delete your information because they--like most governmental and public organizations in Korea--are moved more by Korean popular sentiment than anything else.
How about PM's if asked for? I'd recommend writing a standard
info letter and sending it off to whomever PMs you and asks for it.
Could I be the first?

The only way to get Korea to change its shotty practices is to bring shame upon it from the outside. Show the outside world the injustice and stupidity, and changes will be made quickly (or a visible show of change will be acted out, which is a start I guess).

I'm more than willing to help show the world Korea's unjust ruling in this matter.

[cruisemonkey]

Who owns the Hebei Spirit?

What is her port of registry?

What were the co-ordinates at the time of the accident?

[Thunndarr]

[Ukon]

Does the Indian government normally back down this easily?

[Thunndarr]

Yet another article. God damn.


http://www.itfglobal.org/news-online/index.cfm/newsdetail/2890

[Donald Frost]

Contact the poster known as KHerald. He's Matthew Lamers, and he is an employee of the Korea Herald newspaper. Amnesty International and the U.N.'s leader - a Korean - should also be informed of this incredibly injust story.