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Captain Corea
Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul
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 Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 5:12 pm Post subject: Homeless Foreigners |
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Thought this was an interesting article.
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A middle-aged black man, wearing a military uniform and carrying a black backpack, stepped inside the Itaewon subway station shortly after midnight last Wednesday. The temperature outside was minus 4 degrees Celsius (24.8 Fahrenheit).
The man headed straight to his usual place in a corner of the station and removed a blanket from his bag.
When questioned, the man said his name is “Small A” but refused to say anything more. Local residents said they’ve seen him round the neighborhood since September.
“Recently, I saw him picking up some junk off the street,” said Lee Jae-suk, a 55-year-old owner of an Itaewon clothing store.
Shin Hee-ung, deputy head of Itaewon Station, said Small A spends more and more time inside the station as the weather gets colder.
Korea’s homeless population now includes foreigners.
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“When government-run homeless shelters take in Koreans, they receive government subsidies, but there is no money earmarked for foreigners,” said Kim Hae-sung, director of the Global Village of Love-Sharing.
An official from the Ministry of Health and Welfare admitted that foreigners were excluded from standard homeless shelters. “We have enough trouble supporting the Koreans,” he said. “It is hard to pay attention to the foreigners.”
The Justice Ministry admitted homeless foreigners are a technical headache.
“When they are visitors with valid visas, we cannot send them back home because they didn’t violate the Immigration Control Act,” said an official from the ministry. |
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Lucas
Joined: 11 Sep 2012
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| Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 6:56 pm Post subject: |
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A middle-aged black man, wearing a military uniform and carrying a black backpack, stepped inside the Itaewon subway station shortly after midnight last Wednesday. The temperature outside was minus 4 degrees Celsius (24.8 Fahrenheit).
The man headed straight to his usual place in a corner of the station and removed a blanket from his bag.
When questioned, the man said his name is “Small A” but refused to say anything more. Local residents said they’ve seen him round the neighborhood since September.
“Recently, I saw him picking up some junk off the street,” said Lee Jae-suk, a 55-year-old owner of an Itaewon clothing store.
Shin Hee-ung, deputy head of Itaewon Station, said Small A spends more and more time inside the station as the weather gets colder.
Korea’s homeless population now includes foreigners.
…
“When government-run homeless shelters take in Koreans, they receive government subsidies, but there is no money earmarked for foreigners,” said Kim Hae-sung, director of the Global Village of Love-Sharing.
An official from the Ministry of Health and Welfare admitted that foreigners were excluded from standard homeless shelters. “We have enough trouble supporting the Koreans,” he said. “It is hard to pay attention to the foreigners.”
The Justice Ministry admitted homeless foreigners are a technical headache.
“When they are visitors with valid visas, we cannot send them back home because they didn’t violate the Immigration Control Act,” said an official from the ministry. |
Why don’t they just give him a job on one of those comedy shows? Then the Koreans don’t have to 'black up'
win-win! |
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Who's Your Daddy?
Joined: 30 May 2010
Location: Victoria, Canada.
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| Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 7:02 pm Post subject: Re: Homeless Foreigners |
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“When they are visitors with valid visas, we cannot send them back home because they didn’t violate the Immigration Control Act,” said an official from the ministry. |
Well if they have a visa sponsor, I'd think they have a duty to provide accommodation, or a ticket out of the country. |
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fustiancorduroy
Joined: 12 Jan 2007
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| Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 7:35 pm Post subject: |
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I knew a fellow who very nearly became homeless in Korea. I'll call him Bill.
Bill came here in the mid 90s to work as an English teacher, but had suffered a stroke. This left him unable to work (and therefore unable to have a visa sponsor), yet he chose to stay in Korea for several years afterward. The only reason Bill was able to subsist is that some of his friends gave him money each month to pay his rent and buy food.
Eventually, Bill's friends said enough was enough and told him they would stop giving him money. Bill said he'd rather be homeless in Korea than go back to his home country, the U.S. Knowing this, Bill's friends told his landlord that he had been living without a visa. He was reported to immigration who actually arranged a plane ticket to the U.S. for him, as Bill had no money of his own.
I believe Bill is now living in a shelter in the U.S. |
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young_clinton
Joined: 09 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 7:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Evidently the homeless foriegners in South Korea believe they're just as well off homeless in South Korea as they are homeless in their home countries. Their home embassies would give them a ticket back home if they wanted one. |
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young_clinton
Joined: 09 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 7:47 pm Post subject: |
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| fustiancorduroy wrote: |
Knowing this, Bill's friends told his landlord that he had been living without a visa. He was reported to immigration who actually arranged a plane ticket to the U.S. for him, as Bill had no money of his own.
I believe Bill is now living in a shelter in the U.S. |
Why would his friends sell him out like that? If they don't have money for him then they don't have money for him, but why sell him out? |
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El Bandito
Joined: 07 Oct 2013
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| Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 7:58 pm Post subject: |
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| Hmmm....I thought not having a valid visa violated immigration law, resulting in detention, fines and deportation. |
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KimchiNinja
Joined: 01 May 2012
Location: Gangnam
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| Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 8:18 pm Post subject: |
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| Wow, that's kinda strange. |
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Fox
Joined: 04 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 9:26 pm Post subject: |
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| fustiancorduroy wrote: |
| Bill said he'd rather be homeless in Korea than go back to his home country, the U.S. |
Why? |
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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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| Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 9:33 pm Post subject: |
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| The weather in Korea sucks. (Boiling hot and humid like a suana in the summer and freezing cold like the artic tundra in the winter.) I'm surprised anyone would want to be homeless here. Then again, there are a lot of strange, mentally ill Westerners here, so I guess it was bound to happen. |
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mayorhaggar
Joined: 01 Jan 2013
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| Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 10:24 pm Post subject: |
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| Lucas wrote: |
Why don’t they just give him a job on one of those comedy shows? Then the Koreans don’t have to 'black up'
win-win! |
Sam Hammington, your days of raking in the won are numbered! |
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dairyairy
Joined: 17 May 2012
Location: South Korea
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| Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2013 1:27 am Post subject: |
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| World Traveler wrote: |
| The weather in Korea sucks. (Boiling hot and humid like a suana in the summer and freezing cold like the artic tundra in the winter.) I'm surprised anyone would want to be homeless here. Then again, there are a lot of strange, mentally ill Westerners here, so I guess it was bound to happen. |
Substance abuse, especially extreme alcoholism, could play a factor as well.
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Their counseling reports showed that 13 came to Korea for language schools but became homeless due to economic difficulties. Five said they became homeless due to domestic disputes, three said they became homeless after their visas expired and two claim to be refugees.
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The hagwons should be held responsible for flying them back to their home countries. |
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Otter
Joined: 10 Nov 2013
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| Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2013 1:33 am Post subject: |
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I think I saw that guy on Friday night at the station in Itaewon. He looked quite cheerful and was humming to himself and smiling broadly. I thought that like many homeless people he probably has mental problems.
If you're mentally stable, capable of finding work then it is very rare for people to become homeless. It does happen, but it is rare. All homeless people need help, but especially the mentally or physically ill as they're particularly vulnerable. |
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BigBuds
Joined: 15 Sep 2005
Location: Changwon
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| Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2013 3:22 am Post subject: |
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[quote="dairyairy"]
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The hagwons should be held responsible for flying them back to their home countries. |
On paper they are, in reality they are not.
Part of the agreement they have agreed to and signed with immigration is that they will make sure the foreign employee has means to leave the country at the end of their employment but as usual in Korea it's never enforced. It's legally, and if need be, financially, the employers responsibility to make sure the foreigners they have sponsored for visas leave the country. |
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fustiancorduroy
Joined: 12 Jan 2007
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| Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2013 5:03 am Post subject: |
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| young_clinton wrote: |
| fustiancorduroy wrote: |
Knowing this, Bill's friends told his landlord that he had been living without a visa. He was reported to immigration who actually arranged a plane ticket to the U.S. for him, as Bill had no money of his own.
I believe Bill is now living in a shelter in the U.S. |
Why would his friends sell him out like that? If they don't have money for him then they don't have money for him, but why sell him out? |
Because they knew that the Korean government would pay to fly him out of the country. They knew that Bill would still be homeless back in the U.S., but it would be in a country where he speaks the language fluently and has systems to give him assistance. As the article said, there are few resources for homeless foreigners in Korea. Rather than let him stay in Korea, where he would have definitely ended up homeless with little to no government assistance (with a language barrier on top of everything else), they did him a favor by getting him a free flight back to the U.S. where he can get proper help. |
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