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Do not midnight run from Pagoda!
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Lucas



Joined: 11 Sep 2012

PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 3:35 pm    Post subject: Do not midnight run from Pagoda! Reply with quote

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2014/03/116_154033.html

Otherwise they might send a hit man after you! Shocked
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ed4444



Joined: 12 Oct 2004

PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 4:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

They could send a shadowy figure after you and deliver it with a cheesy one-liner like they used to do in 80s actions movies...

"Consider this as your release letter! Blam Blam"

I used to work for Pagoda once upon a time so I actually met her on a few occasions. She is an enthusiastic Christian. Thats all I really remember.
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Fox



Joined: 04 Mar 2009

PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 4:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A woman who has already been found guilty of bribery while trying to escape culpability for her embezzlement, and who may have attempted to hire a hit man to kill an in-law, is the head of Korea Association of Hagwons? And then tells the police investigating her that she doesn't have time to meet them because she's busy with other criminal investigations and an election to a position of some responsibility? This fits so perfectly the sleazy, sinister image of hagwons so often promoted here that it's almost like something you'd read in the Onion. "Wildly Corrupt Hagwon Owner To Police Investigators: Please Understand My Situation."
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Weigookin74



Joined: 26 Oct 2009

PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 10:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Many older Koreans have traditional thinking. Traditionally a man didn't get divorced from his wife as it caused a loss of face. He just met hookers sometimes on the side. Causing an extreme loss of face makes these tupe of women go crazy and ballistic. They also use the children as pawns in any divorce settlement.

Had a waygook non English teahcer friend go through a divorce from his ex Korean wife. Some Korean male co workers warned him to watch out as Korean women who feel slighted from this have hired hitmen to kill their husbands. They'll willingly go to jail, their husbands are dead, and wife's parents will raise the kids. He went into hiding during the divorce proceedings. She drove all over hell and creation trying to find him, called everyone leaving weird messages on mine and other's phone.

Later after the divorce, she was suppose to let him take the kids every second weekend. When he went, she'd go away somewhere. Ever expect the cops to enforce a custody order? Not in this country. She also called the police accusing him of kidnapping the children when he legally took to America with court permission. Cops were really pissed later on when they found out. Then she said he never gave her money so he can't see the kids. Think he finally took them to America, got an American court order there, and stayed.

Point being older more traditional women here can be totally nuts. Sounds like this woman in the news article. Rationalism doesn't exist.

Actually whole family was nuts. Her old 6th degree black belt dad jumped on his car and punched my friend in the head as well as screaming like a mad man. He drove away in order to avoid further injury. Then grandpa decides to exagerate things through court and try to sue him for blood money. Luckily he had some connections and the head prosector ordered down through the grape vine for the charges to be dropped. Had he of been an English teacher he prob would have been up the creek. Then, my friend had some 28 year old judge make some comment that dealing with English was a hassle in his court. Friend filed a complaint with some national body. (Apparently here judges aren't required to have experience here and take an exam to become one at a young age. Then in old age become a prosecutor. The prosecutors get a 99% conviction rate because the younger judge does what his older ajossi prosecutor says.) So, maybe I should just say the whole legal system is nuts. This according to my friend. I've learned a lot through him. He always use to say if I run into problems, don't try to fight it, just leave.
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Weigookin74



Joined: 26 Oct 2009

PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 10:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I should add some of these older women are also neurotic using such common phrases as "I'm a pretty girl" and "aren't I beautiful?" Some of these women don't seem to outgrow it either saying it well into their 50's. A more open minded Korean woman telling me about some Korean men stuck in miserable marriages where their wife spends all their money and would go crazyand keep the kids if he ever divorced. The poor Korean guy has a good job hence the crazy ajumma wife. I tried to tell her to tell this guy to grow some b@lls and learn to say no. But it seemed over their head.

Luckily many younger K chicks have a more westernesed way of thinking. But some of the older generation. Man oh man. Run like h e !!
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isitts



Joined: 25 Dec 2008
Location: Korea

PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 11:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Weigookin74 wrote:
I should add some of these older women are also neurotic using such common phrases as "I'm a pretty girl" and "aren't I beautiful?" Some of these women don't seem to outgrow it either saying it well into their 50's.

You really think the younger K-girls here aren't well on their way to becoming these older women?

Weigookin74 wrote:
some Korean men stuck in miserable marriages where their wife spends all their money and would go crazyand keep the kids if he ever divorced.

Either party (husband or wife) can play at that game. And anyway, these situations are not one-sided.
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dairyairy



Joined: 17 May 2012
Location: South Korea

PostPosted: Wed Mar 26, 2014 4:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Fox wrote:
A woman who has already been found guilty of bribery while trying to escape culpability for her embezzlement, and who may have attempted to hire a hit man to kill an in-law, is the head of Korea Association of Hagwons? And then tells the police investigating her that she doesn't have time to meet them because she's busy with other criminal investigations and an election to a position of some responsibility? This fits so perfectly the sleazy, sinister image of hagwons so often promoted here that it's almost like something you'd read in the Onion. "Wildly Corrupt Hagwon Owner To Police Investigators: Please Understand My Situation."


And they continue to blame foreign teachers for the problems in the hagwon industry?
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oatmeal



Joined: 26 Nov 2013

PostPosted: Wed Mar 26, 2014 6:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

....but one day she will become the "korean ajummah".....you can't escape it. God have mercy on you when that day comes lol.
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Smithington



Joined: 14 Dec 2011

PostPosted: Wed Mar 26, 2014 9:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yet if we have any criminal record, however minor the offence, we can't work at this lady's hogwan. Confused
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World Traveler



Joined: 29 May 2009

PostPosted: Wed Apr 16, 2014 10:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ed4444 wrote:
I used to work for Pagoda once upon a time so I actually met her on a few occasions. She is an enthusiastic Christian. Thats all I really remember.

Thou shalt not kill! (Also, thou shalt not steal.)

Quote:
Park has led the Korea Association of Hagwon (private learning institutes), which has more than 50,000 private institutions under its wing, since 2011.

http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/Article.aspx?aid=2987459
Quote:
Founded in 1969 in Jongno District, the Pagoda Group is a leading education company in charge of hagwon, or private academies, nationwide. It has also published a book about learning foreign languages.

Pagoda currently has more than 10 branches with more than 1,000 employees. Its foreign languages include English, Chinese and Japanese.

The institutes are primarily focused on teaching English to adults and university students.

With some 600,000 students attending the academy each year, the Pagoda Education Group generated 80 billion won in revenue in 2012.
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World Traveler



Joined: 29 May 2009

PostPosted: Sun May 04, 2014 5:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The comment on this:
http://rokdrop.com/2014/03/30/president-of-korea-association-of-hagwons-accused-of-hiring-a-hitman-to-kill-relative/
…is so true.

The Hagwon Association serves two main purposes. It lobbies the Korean government to keep the laws governing hagwons to a minimum while slashing budgets for public school programs for hiring native teachers. Plus, the association offers advice to its member hagwons about how to cheat foreign and Korean teachers out of salaries and benefits.
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ontheway



Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Location: Somewhere under the rainbow...

PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2014 9:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

World Traveler wrote:
http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/Article.aspx?aid=2987459

Quote:
Founded in 1969 in Jongno District, the Pagoda Group is a leading education company in charge of hagwon, or private academies, nationwide. It has also published a book about learning foreign languages.

Pagoda currently has more than 10 branches with more than 1,000 employees. Its foreign languages include English, Chinese and Japanese.

The institutes are primarily focused on teaching English to adults and university students.

With some 600,000 students attending the academy each year, the Pagoda Education Group generated 80 billion won in revenue in 2012.



There is an obvious error in the Pagoda stats:

It is likely that the 600,000 student number is really 60,000 or fewer.

More than 10 branches ... What does that mean, 11 branches? Then just say so. With 10 branches there would be 60,000 students per school. How many universities in the world are that big? 6,000 students per school would be large, but with a 6 month turnover rate, maybe ... so fewer than 3,000 per location at any given time.

Likewise with 600,000 students per year then 80,000,000,000 won per year comes to less than 135,000 won per student per year. The monthly tuition has to be higher than that. Even at 60,000 students the total tuition per student per year is only 1,350,000 ... 6 months or so depending on the tuition rate. That means either very high turn over rate or even fewer students.

So it's likely there was a typo and that the number of students should have been 60,000, and that number is exaggerated. Likewise the number of "employees" is too round at 1,000 so it's probably overstated as well - unless it is also annual and includes turnover.
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Died By Bear



Joined: 13 Jul 2010
Location: On the big lake they call Gitche Gumee

PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2014 10:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Looks like her success had a dark lining.
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dairyairy



Joined: 17 May 2012
Location: South Korea

PostPosted: Mon May 12, 2014 9:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

There haven't been any followup articles anywhere? Wonder how that happened.
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World Traveler



Joined: 29 May 2009

PostPosted: Tue May 13, 2014 5:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

All I could find was this:
http://pagodaacademy.isteaching.com/pagoda-academy-brand-number-1.html
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