Korean Job Discussion Forums

[moosehead]

I just tried to access Samsung's site and can't get anything but chinese - if someone could please find contact info for them I think it might be useful to post it here - and not just an email address which they can easily block but also some global postal addresses since we have NETs from so many different countries here -

[julian_w]

Hey, now this is going to sound kinda weird coming from me,
'cos i can be as negative as anyone given the wrong circumstances,
but i suggest that we really look closely at ideas suggested here
and keep in mind that negative energy merely begets more negativity.

I want to be so bold as to suggest that the only thing we really have to 'fight'
is the sadness of the initial event: the oil spill.
That is enough sadness and negativity for the whole country and us, it's guests, too.
It's something that, as with the intial response that saw many foreigners volunteer to join in the clean up,
can still potentially serve to unify, rather than divide.

In a practical sense what i mean is:
1.) that boycotts of Samsung products, while definately being a creative suggestion
and certainly a possibility that is worth considering in some situations,
in this case is probably worth discounting for the following reasons (in no particular order):
(i) it's just not going to be effective or useful to anyone,
especially given the amount of effort it would take to really get it going
(ii) if it were succesfully started up, it would likely increase negative feelings and 'swingback' or bad publicity against foreigners
and thus merely work against any shared goals we may have,

2.) any other suggestions, including name-calling and tantrumesque rantings, are likely to provoke a similar response to (ii) above, and,

3.) energy would perhaps be better spent focused on the achievable,
and on the more purely positive
(eg. supporting the families, the spirits and persons of Mr Chawla and Mr Chetan ... or IS that Mr Jasprit and Mr Shyam..?!
... and even the Korean barge captain and other Koreans in jail as a result of this whole unfortunate incident, too),

4.) we need more information, especially before making any decisions to do anything more radical.
I don't know anything about what info. has been released within Korean media,
but all the English language articles i've managed to read from around the world and within our shared nation here so far are really light on any details.
They tend to raise more questions than they answer.

Questions:

1.) There is supposed to be another appeal, to the supreme court. When is it?

2.) At least one of the sailors cannot eat the food provided him.
He's been in jail since the event of the oil spill.
Has the food supplied to him changed, or has his attitude toward it changed?
(ie. is this a hunger strike, or a result of jail wardens' own attitudes, or a result of commands from higher Korean authorities?)
Or, has he been on a diet of water for over a year?

3.) Only one article i've found so far has mentioned the reasoning of the court involving the concept of the captain and CO sharing the blame for the oil spill
as being due to their not having taken immediate 'evasive action' even with the anchor down, or, literally 'dragging the chain',
and then for not doing enough to limit the amount of oil that was actually spilled.
Is there a precident, or factual basis for the approach taken in the appeal to either of these points?
(The strength of uniform condemnation of the first appeal's outcome from shipping unions around the world would suggest not...
but it's worth the struggle to keep an open mind on this...)

[afsjesse]

From what the embassy told Prairiemaker, he is only eating rice. Thus not on a hungerstrike. If they would give him some vegetables, potatoes etc... he could eat just fine. Is it really that hard to give someone a decent meal.

I for one do plan on writing letter's to both men. Many kudos to you Prairiemaker for taking this upon yourselves.

And just one final thought. If it turns out that they can recieve visitors, why dont we try to organize a group visit if possible. I'm 5 hours from Seoul but I would be more than willing to visit them on a weekend.

[exit86]

I would also urge a gathering of more facts
in the matter.

This itf site julian posted in another thread is great!

http://www.itfglobal.org/fusetalk/blog/index.cfm?forumid=15

From reading this, A LOT of people from a lot of countries are pretty
angry with this situation.

It is also obvious a lot of people with far more clout are doing something.

It might be a good idea for us to ask ourselves what we can do
with the power we have.

So far we've come up with letters/gifts to the men in prison--a great idea
since many of us are here in Korea.

Letters to outside media--a good idea too.

I do agree that we must be cautious in the way
we approach this--knowing that we could be shipped off for
public protests or writing to the government; while also taking into account that we are non-Koreans in Korea with public sentiment already
stacked against us, particularly when we meddle in intra-Korean affairs
and publicly criticize the government.

What else can we do?
Of course we ain't gonna win this thing single-handedly;
and our aid will be peripheral at best to the legal actions and formal protests of outside governments, companies, and organizations.

So what can we do to complement the overall cause?

Writing the men is great! If you haven't done it, do it now; then do it again and again.

Also--as julien said--it would be best not to say too many negative
things on this site (woops, my bad . . .), but to channel this energy into something positive.

Let's hear more ideas friends!

I wish something more could be done on our part other than letters and e-mails though.

Hmm.........

[Kwai_Chang_Kain]

Not too long ago I heard a Korean celebrity (I forget which one) purchased a 1 page ad in the NY Times to sprout some "Did you know Dokdo belongs to Korea" propaganda.

Perhaps we can set up a fund to produce a similar "Did you know about the racist Korean justice system" ad?

[afsjesse]

Interesting idea, but I would refrain from the "racist" part. And that would be protesting the government which we don't want to do. I think it would be better to highlight the case without being critical of the government.

And how on earth would we get that much money? It must cost thousads.

[Kwai_Chang_Kain]

Perhaps the kind users of Daves will be willing to help out? I know times are tough but every donation helps no matter how big or small. I myself would be willing to put 20 000 won towards this cause.

[prairiemaker]

Ditto for me on what exit86 just wrote. Exit86 I will be really glad when I can finally Pm and thank you personally for all you have written. I am very close now to the coveted PM privilege.

I have been doing research all day for the story and returning emails. The Korean times is going to print the story and the Korean Herald will likely print their own story as well. Some influential people are trying to get the three main Korean papers to also print a story. I have been discussing with everyone involved how to write this so I do not cause more damage than good. The story will not be that influential, but the point is to get as much positive focus on this as we can.

Mrs. Chawla is gathering photos and other personal information to pass on to us. I was asked if I would like to come back to the embassy in the morning, to discuss all the personal information, but I asked for a phone call from Mrs. Chawla instead so I can deliver the story as promised to the Times. I will post as soon as I have. I will also ask her to post on Dave�s.

Somebody asked about last names, I think Julian. ...You were right. Thank You! It is Mr. and Mrs. Chawla and Mr. and Mrs. Syam. I am sorry for the mistake, the mistake came from a misprint on a document I have that I went by. If you have already posted a letter with Mr. Chetan as title it will still reach them.

Mrs. Syam is still in India, but will return within the week.

I forgot to ask about prison visits. We focused so much on the political correct way to write this story for the best outcome, amongst other things that this totally slipped my mind.

I think that is everything everybody asked.

One more thing I was thinking we can do if anybody has time. One, send the addresses of Mr. Chawla and Mr. Syam to all sorts of organizations or people who might write in a supporting way to them. Second, once I get the personal information on them to you, it might be good to send out wherever you can. Someone said on this thread, and please forgive me, I can not remember who, that we need to make the �prisoners� as human as possible. This is so true.

The Indian embassy has asked this humanitarian aspect be my focus on my story, and also to write about the damage this is doing to Korea as it grows as an issue. I feel if anybody out there can take what information we get, and make these four people more human to the world, the greater chance we have to succeed. I also feel if we do not attack anyone, but begin to voice how much this is hurting, and is going to hurt Korea as time goes by, then the more successful we will be. This is also the Indian embassies position.

I had more to write, especially on how this is hurting Korea, but my wife just walked in. I need to spend some time with her. She has been great with all this. I could not have a better wife.

Thanks for all the emails and everyone�s kind words.

[Jandar]

Does anybody here have an in with the Korean celebrity world?

Are Korean Celebrities politically aware or active?

Does anyone here know how to contact Hines Ward?

[prairiemaker]

I realized I did not answer some of Julian�s question.

Regarding the food of Mr. Chawla.

His religion prohibits him from eating even the smallest amount of animal anything. He has held this belief, according to his wife, all his life. The Indian embassy has offered to pay and deliver his meals and sign a letter of legal responsibility in regards to this. This is one of the greatest concerns of everyone. They ask daily to do this and have tried everyway they can think of to satisfy the requirements of the prison to do this, to no avail. When Mrs. Chalwa saw her husband today she was in tears over his condition. He is beginning to fade both physically and mentally. He would rather die than break his religious beliefs. When you see his picture you will see something in him that just radiates as a just man. Seeing his picture was one of the reasons I personally got involved. His picture was on one of the sites I goggled, but I can no longer find it, though honestly I just do not have time at present to look for it. Mrs. Chawla is getting ready to give me several photos, but if somebody wants to take on the task on finding and posting the photos that are out their on the internet of them this would be great.

I sneaked in while my wife was on the phone with her sisters. She is off and I must close. Julian I will finish answering what questions I can of yours tomorrow.

Thanks.

[Whistleblower]

Just received this from Amnesty International in the UK:

[Jandar]

Phone: +82 2 730 4755

Fax: + 82 2 738 4754

Address: Gwangehwamun
P.O.Box 2045
Chongno-gu
Seoul, 110-620 KOREA, REPUBLIC OF

Email: [email protected]


Address:
C/o. IMP
Peter Benenson House, 1 Easton Street
London, WC1X 0DW UNITED KINGDOM

Email:
[email protected]

Phone: +1 212 807 8400
Fax: +1 212 463 9193 \ 1 212 627 1451

Address:
5 Penn Plaza - 16th floor
New York, NY 10001 UNITED STATES

Email: [email protected]


Phone: + 61 2 8396 7670
Fax: + 61 2 92 17 76 63

Address:
Locked Bag 23
Broadway, NSW 2007 AUSTRALIA

Email: [email protected]

Phone: + 64 4 499 3349
Fax: + 64 4 499 3505

Address:
PO Box 5300
Wellesley Street
Auckland, NEW ZEALAND

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +27(0) 12 320 81 55
Fax: +27(0) 12 320 81 58

Address:
PO Box 29083
Sunnyside 0132
Pretoria, Gauteng SOUTH AFRICA

Email: [email protected]

Phone: + 353 1 863 8300
Fax: + 353 1 675 17 31

Address:
1st Floor, Ballast House
18-21 Westmoreland St.,
Dublin, 2 IRELAND

Email: [email protected]


Phone: + 1 613 744 76 67
Fax: + 1 613 746 24 11

Address:
312 Laurier Avenue East
Ottawa, Ontario ON K1N 1H9 CANADA

Email: [email protected]

[afsjesse]

Great work everyone! Keep it up!

[tfunk]

I'm not sure if the Korean courts were being racist. Biased, corrupt and politically inspired favoritism may be more to the point. If the vessel had been Korean it's possible that they would have been scapegoated.

It doesn't reduce the importance of the issue, but it might be better to refrain from statements like 'Korea is a racist country' because you'll potentially turn people away that could possibly help you with this issue (Koreans).

[seirogan]

Here is a picture of the two gentlemen from an article July 2008.

http://www.lloydslist.com/ll/news/viewArticle.htm?articleId=20017553342