Korean Job Discussion Forums

Whistleblower · Joined: 03 Feb 2007

I was dropping a friend off with my wife and we drove to her place near Jamshil. Well we were in the back roads near her home and last night we all saw this guy collapse over his bicycle. Well we were shocked and my wife and her friend jumped out to help. They are both Korean and were pretty happy to help a stranger in need.

So I stopped the car and put the hazards on and parked by the side of the road and then the police turned up. I was sitting in the car with my son occupying him. The police never went to my car and just were about to leave the scene leaving an unconcious old man by the side of the road.

The police parked their car and got out. They could see the man was in pain and slipping in and out of conciousness. Eventually, they decided that they would help but not before a grilling.

They asked my wife "Did you hit this man with your car?" and my friend snapped back "Why do you think we are helping this poor guy? He collapsed in front of our car!" My wife was pretty pissed and I was fuming.

So a long story short. This guy could wake up this morning and blame me that I hit him and the Korean Cops would be on his side. Even though there are 2 witnesses saying that I didn't hit plus my kid, that seems irrelavent. I could have a criminal record if this guy decides to get something out of this situation.

I sometimes wonder whether people can help fellow citizens or fear of facing a criminal record and being presumed guilty before innocent. I am shitting myself and crossing my fingers that the guy says that he collapsed and there was no foul play.

Watch out people, there are strange cops in K-land.

monkinwonderland · Joined: 17 May 2007

Good luck. I'm sure you'll be vindicated in the end, but you may have to deal with some BS in the interim.

moosehead · Joined: 05 May 2007

have been burned SO many times trying to do the right thing

next time just report the incident to someone and ask they send help; i.e., you could have used your cell phone to report a man laying by the side of the road who seemed to have fallen off his bike.

sad, but the safer option. Sad

sojusucks · Joined: 31 May 2008

Sad but true. Notice how Koreans avoid helping each other out? That is because they could be held liable if things turn out poorly. There are not good samritain laws here. Sorry that you had to experience this. It breaks my heart that I can only provide limited help (I have learned long ago not to help in certain situations or I could wind up in jail).

I agree, just call it in and stay in proximity until the cop arrive but far enough away that they won't think you did it.

Lesson to everyone: if a sitution is life-threatening, never get directly involved! This is the sad truth here and you don't want to spend time in a Korean prison.

sojusucks · Joined: 31 May 2008

Here's an actual event. Some of you might find it interesting.

I saw a drunken Korean man passed out on the subway platform at Yongsan Station. He was hanging over the railing with his arms dangling down. Everyone was very scared. At first everyone thought he was dead, but then he stirred and went back to sleeping it off. This was around noon on Saturday. Not one Korean person helped him. We waited for about 20 minutes and just when we were going to call the police, he stumbled onto a subway for Cheonyangni. We heard a woman on the subway scream just before the doors closed. He left his umbrella and backpack on the platform.

TheChickenLover · Joined: 17 Dec 2007 Location: The Chicken Coop

There is something that all teachers in this country need to learn. Here it is.

THERE ARE MANY PEOPLE WHO SET UP SCAMS TO ACCUSE YOU OF A CRIME SO THAT YOU'LL HAVE TO PAY BLOOD MONEY.

This happens all the time & is a reason I'll never get involved in a domestic dispute. The chance of this being a scam is far to high to risk & quite honestly, if a guy is hurting a girl it's probably not the first time. Ignore the stupid people around you & mind your own business.

I saw one guy who looked homeless walk upto an SUV at a red light & literally put himself lying under the side of the car. The woman opened her door, started yelling & drove away quickly. To anyone who didn't see it happen, it would look like she hit him & she'd be hit up for some serious coin. There is no real sense of morality with these people, money is the only thing they want & they don't care who or what they have to do to get it.

Car accidents, assaults are common ways to accuse people of crimes through 'witnesses' who will support the couple against you.

Trust me, it's not worth it.

Chicken

Whistleblower · Joined: 03 Feb 2007

Luckily this time, it looks like the old guy was drunk and heard no news this morning. So it appears that this was a legitimate case of soju binge drinking.

rebel_1812 · Joined: 17 May 2008 Location: Seoul

I agree. You reap what you sew. Allow corrupt government, police force and business to grow and the inhumanity trickles down to everyone. It may not seem like the right thing to do, but don't help people here. You can get severely hurt for even trying.

blaseblasphemener · Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 2:58 am Post subject:

walk on by...walk on by...

Whistleblower · Joined: 03 Feb 2007

I will definately keep my head down whenever I see some accident. I wouldn't want to get burned by just helping. It just is backwards from what I would expect from other people if I have a heart attack in the street or suffer from a stroke.

Korea, not the place to have an accident as people will just walk on by and not give a damn.