Korean Job Discussion Forums

Harvard Material · Joined: 25 Feb 2003 Location: Seoul

The address for Jean Breisbois (the author of 'Soldiers of Fortune'), is [email protected].

The only address I have found for Seoul Classified is [email protected]. I am sure the advertisement department would forward any e-mails to the concerned department(s).

Let's see how much truth there is to any of this...

Stunted Wookie · Joined: 06 Feb 2003 Location: Sound Studio

e-mails sent Twisted Evil

Looking for more information, I will post any responses....

The Lemon · Joined: 11 Jan 2003

Stunted Wookie · Joined: 06 Feb 2003 Location: Sound Studio

I had sent a letter asking for more information about this story; here is the response I got back.

My Letter:

weened · Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2003 3:30 am Post subject:

Ah, yes. And what are the "appropriate channels?" Dodge, weave, KaPow! Blammo! Rolling Eyes

humanuspneumos · Joined: 08 Jun 2003

I agree with Tiger Beer

paul · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Taiwan

It's also possible that the reporter was duped by a cunning syndicate of hogwan owners. Koreans aren't as dumb or conservative as some people think they are, (although cunning might be an overstatement).

As a former journalist, I was always hungry for a "big" story, and these often came from the most unusual and unexpected sources. The reporter at the Seoul Classified could have been contacted by one or more disgruntled owners and been led by the nose, thinking he had a legitimate story.

It would have been very easy to set up, especially the part where he was at a stake out with the EnfCorp agent, who just so happened to confirm some teacher was leaving town simply by looking through the window from the street Wink

.

Seems a little to good to be true considering the agent he was with was supposedly Korean.

ulsanchris · Joined: 19 Jun 2003 Location: take a wild guess

I think joseg is full of sh*t. He says that he was kicked out of country on this post, but on another post he says that he just started work at some other hagwan. They don't kick you out of a country to let you back in it. THe first thing he had to do their was to spy on the other teachers. Actually its' doubtful that he works there at all. Seems like some idiot is trying to have some fun by getting people on board all riled up.

The Lemon · Joined: 11 Jan 2003

Bulsajo · Joined: 16 Jan 2003

joseg · Joined: 07 May 2003

humanuspneumos · Joined: 08 Jun 2003

The real question is "Would the article be a real shocker if it turns out to be true? Why?"

Some of you have been in Korea for years and years and have managed to live in a shoe-box, made the policy of "No shop talk!" after work, and tend to avoid the crowd of teachers who have stories to tell. It's a chosen life-style to keep one's head in the sand. Perhaps that's what people with high EQ's do to keep their EQ high. Others have lived in the real-wild-jungle. Nothing is surprising.

As early as 1996 I've seen first-hand similar stuff:

* a mini-tape-recorder hanging off the wall at the owner's desk wired to the phones and the mini-microphone poking out

* a Korean/American key teacher confessing to going into the foreigner's dorm to photo-copy personals and look around to see what's up

* Korean teachers have on countless occassions said they were asked what was said, who went where, what they saw... bla, bla, bla...

* a waygook saram saying that her boss followed her in a car

* a female foreigner living in her apartment alone and walking into her bathroom to find the toilet seat up and foot prints (at a time when she was thinking of doing a midnight run)

There are no shortage of examples similar to the article on greater/lesser scales.

Ever read "Inside the Hermit Kingdom" - published around 97? The Korean/Canadian journalist who wrote it gives reams and reams of examples in the North and South of such things happening again and again to herself. Such attitudes/events of spying have been in the mix for a long, long time. Those in a shoe-box need to climb out or stay there to maintain your EQ. I have no problems with the article being true. And even if it is fiction- it likely leans so far towards what is true that it might as well be.

Anyway- it's already 2003- does anyone think it's all going to shrink away? There are opportunists everywhere (waygook and hanguk)and keeping an eye on the foreign workers spells bucks.

I don't even know- at this point in the game- if the article even has to be validated. Sometimes fiction is terribly close to already present and evolving facts. Facts that have been true a long time before now.

Bulsajo · Joined: 16 Jan 2003

There's an obvious reason why the Enfcorp story is BS if you just think about it for a few seconds- I'm not going to post it because it'll just give the hordes of trolls around here more ammunition- but just think about it for a while and it'll come to you.

humanuspneumos · Joined: 08 Jun 2003

I came up with two things:

I highly doubt that a former franchise owner would start a company like this.

Firearms regulations are strict in Korea and I would assume that these guys can't have them.

Anyway- funny question- I admit that I like the puzzle aspect to it. Bulsajo - if you don't want to give your answer on the posting board just PM me- I'm intrigued. Wait a few more guesses from others before you PM me. Maybe I'll see something more pop out in the article too- likely not though. I suck at scoring high on puzzles- even though I like this one. Laughing

Even if the article is total BS- what kind of context would birth that kind of thinking? I've never heard anyone in the Western countries- even in their wildest dreams- think about something like this or even suggest it for low-level jobs. In Asia there's enough context to birth such "out there" thinking. It's a shame teachers even think once about this kind of crap.

[ For the record- I did a search with a number of variables for EnfCorp on www.yahoo.kr- nothing came up- nothing]

Bulsajo · Joined: 16 Jan 2003