Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Big Mac]

Man with fake teaching papers does Korean jail time
Last updated Oct 14 2005 06:52 AM NDT
CBC News
A St. John's man who was among dozens of Canadians nailed for using fraudulent papers to teach in South Korea was jailed for more than a week before being deported to Canada.

Aaron Mawhinney, 27, taught English in South Korea for a year and a half.

Mawhinney said he spent 10 days in two different detention centres before being taken to the airport in handcuffs.

"It was a terrible experience. It's the worst."

Mawhinney said he landed the job after his online resume attracted a South Korean broker who assured him it didn't matter that he had not completed his education.

"I should have probably done some homework, I know."

Mawhinney said he used a fake degree and transcript while finishing his degree from Memorial University through correspondence.

He said he was among other English teachers in South Korea – including colleagues from Newfoundland and Labrador – who were unconcerned about receiving fraudulent papers to land work.

"We had a laugh about it. We didn't think anything was going to come of it."

The job broker was arrested by South Korean officials and turned over the names of hundreds of clients.

Federal officials said about 50 Canadians have been investigated or deported from South Korea in recent few weeks, with some held in South Korean jails.

Mawhinney said other Canadians teaching in South Korea want Ottawa's help to get them out of jail.

Dan McTeague, parliamentary secretary with the Foreign Affairs Department, said Canadians must respect the laws of other countries.

"When you are in another country, you are subject to the laws and conditions that are there," said McTeague.

"We want to ensure that Canadians are treated as best as can be expected, but we are in no position to second-guess the laws of another country."

[djsmnc]

Haha, eat your morning miyeokguk and paint license plates you phony!

[cruisemonkey]

Assuming the story is true... the moron says "I should have probably done some homework..."

Prehaps if he had a degree he would have realised the value of homework.

Perhaps if he had a degree he would have realised no government can do anything to help a citizen who breaks the laws of another soverign state.

Perhaps if he had a degree he would have enough brain cells not to put himself in jeopardy... but the point is moot.

[Qinella]

Here's the link to the original story.

On the page, there's also a link to a 5-minute interview with the ex-teacher. It's more revealing than the story itself. As the story says, he made it clear that he wasn't finished with his pseudo-college (correspondece, what?) yet, but was told to come anyway. After he was there for a week, the fake documents were given to him by his director, and there were several teachers there also doing the exact same thing.

So yeah, he was naive, but I don't think he realized what he was getting himself into. It's easy to see how the whole thing had a facade of legitmacy to someone who didn't research and, well, doesn't sound too bright.

Also, he mentions Dave's ESL Cafe. That was where he posted his resume. His recruiter's name is David Kang (he lived here 1.5 years and still pronounced the name Kang with short A.. sigh..), whom he said also got arrested and gave up a list of ~100 names of others that he'd recruited.

The clip is an interesting listen.

[Big Mac]

You're right, the audio clip is more interesting than the story. Definitely worth a listen. The link above doesn't seem to work. Here is the webpage: http://stjohns.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=nf_korean_teacher_051013

Here is another story I found on the CBC Winnipeg website. It seems the story has been all over the media in Canada lately. I used to work at the CBC, so I've been getting a lot of e-mails lately from CBC folks asking me about the "crackdown." There's obviously a lot of interest in it.

Teaching ends in trouble for local woman in Korea
Last Updated Oct 14 2005 04:51 PM CDT
CBC News
A Winnipeg woman has been detained in South Korea as part of a crackdown on foreign teachers working without proper credentials.

At least 50 Canadians have been detained in or deported from South Korea in the past month. Many were recruited to teach through advertisements in newspapers and on the internet, even though they didn't have the legal credentials required to teach in the country.

Patricia Taylorson's 22-year-old daughter, Candace, had been teaching English to primary schoolchildren in Korea for 18 months after seeing an advertisement on the internet.

She was not aware that she was breaking the law until the man who recruited her was thrown in jail and she tried to leave the country. Candace was detained at the airport in Seoul for visa violations.

Taylorson says her daughter would not have taken the position had she known she could get in trouble.

"Any of the people that went over there had no idea that it was breaking Korean law, that is was visa fraud. No one understood the ramifications," she told CBC News. "Apparently it's been going on for a number of years unchecked, and apparently they were all well aware this was going on."

Taylorson has been told her daughter will not be charged with visa fraud, and she expects Candace to be deported within a week or so.

However, many Canadians caught teaching in Korea without proper credentials – including a university degree – haven't been as fortunate. Dozens have been charged criminally.

Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs has been warning for two years that South Korea was cracking down on teachers without degrees. Lately, however, the Korean government has become more aggressive in its enforcement of the law.

"Things began to really take shape or unfold with the government or authorities cracking down on errant credentials according to their laws about a month ago," says Ontario MP Dan McTeague, parliamentary secretary for Canadians abroad.

The Canadian consulate knows the location of every citizen who's been detained, and says they're being treated appropriately. But ultimately, McTeague says Canada can't second-guess the laws of another country.

Taylorson says the experience has certainly made her family aware, and she hopes that speaking out will help protect other Canadians from getting into the same situation.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS CANADA: Teaching English in Korea

[JacktheCat]

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