Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Haggard]

http://www.canada.com/search/story.aspx?id=dd956ab6-a142-4def-b36d-4d99c290b041
Koreans jail Canadian on dubious ground

Friend believes ESL teacher was framed to cheat him of pay, bonus and airfare

Juliet O'Neill
The Ottawa Citizen

Monday, October 27, 2003


An Ottawa woman is raising a red flag for Canadian ESL teachers heading for South Korea after a young Canadian man was arrested and imprisoned just moments after signing for a package that was not addressed to him at his school. The package allegedly contained drugs.

Joan Hunt, an Ottawa nurse, said Noah Pawlowski, 22, was arrested at the end of September during his last week of a year-long contract teaching English as a Second Language at a school called Wonderland in Daegu, South Korea. Even if he is found not guilty, he will be deported and lose his last month's pay, his bonus for finishing his contract, and his air fare back to Canada, she said. The loss would total about $7,000.

"I just hope kids become aware of the dangers," Mrs. Hunt said yesterday. Hundreds of young Canadians teach English in Korea and other Asian countries.

Foreign Affairs Department spokesman Reynald Doiron said Canadian consular officials visited Mr. Pawlowski on Oct. 8 at the Inchon detention centre near the capital, Seoul, and are staying in touch with him and with his father, a resident of British Columbia. Mr. Pawlowski's case is under judicial review. Mr. Doiron said he has a lawyer and a trial date of Nov. 4th.

Mrs. Hunt said her daughter, 25-year-old Elizabeth Brown, is a friend of the young man and has visited him once since the arrest at the Inchon detention centre. Her daughter is an ESL teacher in Ulsan, an eight-hour bus ride away.

Her daughter says she was allowed to see him for only seven minutes after her bus journey on Oct. 11 and was asked to leave money for him. She left $350 with a detention centre official but does not know whether he received the money. Mr. Pawlowski is said to be sharing a three-by-10-foot cell with another person. "It's just horrific," Mrs. Hunt said.

Her daughter also told Ms. Hunt that Mr. Pawlowski had signed a paper, at the behest of Korean prison officials, saying that no information about his situation should be released to anyone. "I think he was intimidated," Ms. Hunt said. "I told her that's crazy; the more people who know, the better."

When Ms. Brown went the following weekend to visit, she was a few minutes late for the appointment arranged in advance and was not allowed to see him. She was asked to leave money for him again but refused. She could not visit him this weekend because her school director asked her to work and threatened to deport her if she did not.

"If this could happen to this boy it could happen to my daughter," Ms. Hunt said. She is distressed that he is so far from Canada and does not seem to have any support. The young man has no mother. She has asked her member of Parliament, David Pratt, to intervene and his office has forwarded her letter to Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham.

Consular officials told Ms. Brown that their only role in a case like this is humanitarian, to make sure he is being well treated.

The Foreign Affairs Department warns on its website for ESL teachers that the government cannot become involved in personal, legal or contractual conflicts in South Korea, nor can it vouch for individual employers. It also warns that some schools "fire" teachers after 10 months to avoid paying a bonus that must be paid to those who fulfil their one-year contract. Teachers are not allowed to teach elsewhere in Korea if they quit a school without securing a formal release contract from the school director.

Efforts to reach Mrs. Pawlowski's father were unsuccessful.

[buddy bradley]

Good.

[canuckistan]

Just another wonderful story about Wonderland. I can totally believe this poor kid got set up just so they wouldn't have to pay him.
I hope that franchise director burns in hell.

[Mr. Kalgukshi]

"An Ottawa woman is raising a red flag for Canadian ESL teachers heading for South Korea after a young Canadian man was arrested and imprisoned just moments after signing for a package that was not addressed to him at his school. The package allegedly contained drugs."

_________________________________

Today's lesson, boys and girls, is not to sign for packages from abroad not addressed to you and from someone you do not know. It can ruin your entire day. Possibly your life.

And not only just in Korea.

[Seoultrader]

Why assume innocence?

His stupidity alone deserves imprisonment.

[Son Deureo!]

[canuckistan]

On second thought, you're probably right about that. Depends on what type of drugs, and their point of origin. Lots of unanswered questions here.

[Bulsajo]

What I want to know is- who was the package addressed to, where was it sent from, and why did he sign for it? Was it Fed ex (or similar courier service)? Registered mail at the Post office?

I mean- how exactly do you get put in the postion where you're signing for a package for someone else and without knowing the return address? Was the package addressed to someone else at the school? Then why didn't THAT person get busted? If not, then it was a name nobody knew? How did Noah get put in the position of signing for it, exactly? "Hey, we got this delivery guy at the door and someone needs to sign for this package we don't know anything about... Hey! Noah! Come over here for a sec!"
It's not that I'm above believing that it could very well have been some sort of frame... BUT as a former casual user of um, 'stuff' etc. and somewhat knowledgeable in the ways people have sent 'stuff' in the past- if I wanted to have a friend mail 'stuff' to me I'd have him put a bogus name and a bogus return address on the package, and when the package arrived 'safely' and someone asked around I'd say "Well, I think I know that guy- give it to me and I'll see he gets it." And if somehow I didn't get it- well, no big deal: it can't be traced to me and I owe my buddy $30-40 next time I see him. BUT those of us who have been around a while know that Korea, like many other countries, will open suspicious packages and then put them back into circulation to see where they end up. Remember the guy who went on vacation in Thailand and mailed himself some hash inside a hollowed out book? Intercepted by customs/mail/police and then followed to its destination...

Now, I'm NOT saying this is what went down, but I'd certainly like to hear more of the details of an incident that has a lot of holes in it.

Consider this: If an employer wanted to frame the guy, wouldn't there be easier ways of doing it? How credible does it sound for a Korean boss to phone up the police? "I believe my employee may be receiving a package full of dope- please keep an eye out for it- how do I know? Er, um, I overheard him talking on the phone about it. Yes, that's correct he was using a school phone. (alternately: Yes, that's correct, I have an illegal wire-tap on his phone line) Yes, that's correct I distinctly heard him say "Mail me some marijuana" to his friend while I was in the room. It won't be addressed to him, but it'll be his, that's for sure. Look for it over the next 2 weeks or so, I'm sure it'll be coming from Canada addressed to my school." Wouldn't it be easier to mail the package right to his home address (or plant it there if he has the key) and then call the police to come over and search the guy's apt? Couldn't the employer just falsely accuse him of stealing something from the school, or hurting a kid, hurting the business, being a drunk, being a bad teacher, etc. and toss him out on his ass and say- "sue me if you want your money"? And on and on.. I mean that's how it's usually done, no need to set up an elaborate scheme involving drugs, as mentioned above in a previous post.

As for Nurse Hunt- I'm sure she has been hearing from her daughter how difficult Korea can be, how wonderful her friends are, but how poorly young honest Canadians are being treated in Korea, and how bad in general Koreans can be. It doesn't sound like she knows much more than us about the whole situation but has taken her daughter's word that the guy must be innocent. Fair enough you've got to stand by your daughter (but it doesn't neccessarily mean that you are right- if you were Elizabeth Brown and you knew that some of your acquaintances in Korea smoked weed once in a while- would you tell your mom? I'm sorry if this sounds like casting aspersions, I'm just trying to look at all the angles).

Going by only the info in the article and Occam's Razor, I'm definitely leaning towards thinking that the guy did it.

Of course more info could change that opinion- Elizabeth Brown, where are you?

[khyber]

they should drug test the owner. If it's addressed to the school,(and the boy is a fool for signing) why isn't the owner also being charged?
and bulsajo's questions are quite necessary to get a better understanding.

the whole story stinks though, that is for sure.

[Bulsajo]

[Zed]

The Wonderland was in Daegu not Incheon. But your question still stands.

[Bulsajo]

Ooops- for some reason I got fixated on the "Inchon detention center" part of the article (almost certainly due to personal animosity towards Inchon hagwons in general). Fixed the error in my previous post- thanks Zed.

[On the other hand]

I read the article a couple of times, and can't find any indication as to where the package came from. Assuming, as Mr Kalgukshi does, that the package came from "abroad", that would mean that the hagwon owner actually contacted a drug dealer in a FOREIGN COUNTRY to get some weed delivered to HIS OWN HAGWON.

I realize that hagwon owners can be a pretty oily lot, but I'd imagine that most of them have pretensions to being respectable members of Korean society. I doubt that many of them would want their schools to get a rep for having stoner teachers(which Wonderland will now have). And I REALLY doubt that they would want to take the risk of being busted themselves.

And, if they were trying to frame the guy, wouldn't they have addressed it to him in order to really cement their case AND ensure that he signs it? In any case, if they were gonna pull a frame-up, I think they'd just do something less complicated like accuse him of stealing school merchandise.

Guess we'll wait and see what happens.

[helly]

Wonder if there is going to be any follow-up to the drug angle? Its only mentioned in the first paragraph. The rest of the story is about his poor treatment.

[Blue Flower]