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CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
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 Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 6:40 am Post subject: Looks like time for a massive letter-writing campaign! |
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Edited to provide the correct scumbag...er, representative's information.
Have you seen this pile of manure yet? For your benefit, here are a few particulars from the thing:
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| "E-2 visa holders, once caught for taking drugs or sexually harassing children, were often found to be rehired at another school or hagwon,'' said Yeo Jun-sung, an aide for Rep. Choi. "The proposed bills are to remove these loopholes from the current immigration law.'' |
Did you know there were such loopholes for foreign teachers? Yeah, neither did I. On the other hand, it's been beyond obvious for some time now the people actually falling into the category of criminal to which the "esteemed" representative refers are Korean teachers, not foreigners.
The lying sack of trash who's proposing the bill mentioned in that article is Choi Young-hee of the Democratic Party. Of course, she belongs to the opposition camp, and not just any ol' rep from that camp, either. She's a proportional representative for education. (Doesn't proportional rep here mean "party hack"?) Just in case you feel the need to contact her, here is the contact information:
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Name: Choi, Young-Hee
Birthday: 1950/07/20
Office phone: 02-784-2061
Website: http://www.choi1388.or.kr
Email: none provided |
That's for telephone, obviously. If you wish to send a regular letter to her, here is the mailing address for the National Assembly: 1 Yoido-dong, Yongdeungpo-gu, Seoul 150-701.
May I suggest that you ask the honorable representative where she's obtained her facts.
Last edited by CentralCali on Wed Jun 10, 2009 5:29 am; edited 2 times in total |
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bacasper
Joined: 26 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 7:18 am Post subject: |
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| Kang Shin-who wrote: |
| Meanwhile, foreign teachers' groups are urging the Korean government to test all teachers, whether they are Koreans or foreigners. They filed complaints with the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, claiming the visa regulations were based on prejudice and bias against foreign English teachers last February. Also, Gong-Gam, a group of human rights lawyers, plans to file a petition with the Constitutional Court on their behalf. |
Talk about shooting yourself in the foot! It's like saying, "This is wrong to do it to us, so do it to everybody!"
If people can satisfactorily do their jobs, what they do in their private lives is no one else's business. Instead of pushing to put more regulations on everybody, they should be pushing to get rid of them.
As long as you are writing, you may as well send one off to that ATEK group, too. They claim to be helping native teachers??? Instead of trying to get rid of the new burdensome regulations, they are trying to cement them in. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 7:38 am Post subject: |
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| May I suggest that you ask the honorable representative where he's obtained his facts. |
I would respectfully dissent from Cali's proposed strategy here. From what Cali himself writes, they're basically just closing a loophole that either no one is using, or never existed in the first place. So, even if this bill goes ahead, it'll probably end up just being a break-even result for the foreigner community.
Granted, yes, the xenophobic rhetoric is disturbing. But this isn't back home, where a politican making racist comments to the press will be hounded on the editorial pages until he apologizes. This is Korea, where no one really looks askance at that sort of thing, and we're not likely to find a lot of media allies to champion our cause. A bunch of angry e-mails from wayguk teachers are likely to just make Rep. Choi even more determined in his crusade.
Anyway, from the article itself, Mr. Choi's proposals don't really amount to much at all...
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Rep. Choi Young-hee of the main opposition Democratic Party submitted the bills obliging foreign English teachers to present criminal record and health check documents, including HIV-AIDS tests, before they are hired at public or private schools.
Under immigration regulations, applicants for an E-2 English teaching visa have been required to submit those documents since December 2007.
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The information contained in the second paragrpah would seem to negate any real point to the bills described in the first paragraph. I suspect that Mr. Choi is mostly just proposing some meaningless revisions to the already existing requirements, in order to make it look like he's taking on the foreign miscreants full-throttle.
The only possible downer that I can see...
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In addition, the bills require ``cannabinoid tests'' to detect marijuana users. The authorities initially planned to conduct the tests on E-2 visa applicants, but the idea was scrapped in March last year due to a lack of equipped hospitals and the fact smoking marijuana is not illegal in some countries.
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I object to the monitoring of behavior that takes place in other countries. That said, I avoided smoking weed on my last trip to Canada, because, even with the cannaboid tests scrapped, I doubt all Korean hospitals have gotten the memo, and I do not relish the prospect of being deported under the internal-possession laws. |
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CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
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| Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 1:06 pm Post subject: |
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| OTH, there is no such loophole to be closed. |
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Confused Canadian
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 3:05 pm Post subject: |
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Rep. Choi said Korea had a total of 38,822 E-2 visa holders last year. Among them, 11,067 were registered with hagwon, and 5,553 at elementary and secondary schools, but 22,202 were not accounted for.
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I'd love to know the source for this stat. Seems rather odd, considering an E-2visa is tied to a specific place of work! |
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Julius
Joined: 27 Jul 2006
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| Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 8:03 pm Post subject: |
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| but 22,202 were not accounted for. |
Those are the ones who did runners without cancelling their E2.
| bacasper wrote: |
Talk about shooting yourself in the foot! It's like saying, "This is wrong to do it to us, so do it to everybody!. |
Clearly applying checks to everyone is a good idea. Plenty of koreans with fake degrees, probably some of the prostitute-visiting condom-hating ajosshis with AIDS and so on to sift out. |
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rollo
Joined: 10 May 2006
Location: China
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| Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 6:48 am Post subject: |
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| Yes stiffer checks are coming soon! Thanks to an '"associations" campaign to extend equal checks for all, the koreans are responding by tightening standards. A letter writing campaign by people who cant vote??? Koreans always see these things as interference in their internal affairs by a group of neocolonialist. Seems that you are having trouble adjusting to living in a country that is not like your own, Central CAli. Diversity, that means differences in laws customs, mores, attitudes. |
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bacasper
Joined: 26 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 7:04 am Post subject: |
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| Julius wrote: |
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| but 22,202 were not accounted for. |
Those are the ones who did runners without cancelling their E2.
| bacasper wrote: |
Talk about shooting yourself in the foot! It's like saying, "This is wrong to do it to us, so do it to everybody!. |
Clearly applying checks to everyone is a good idea. Plenty of koreans with fake degrees, probably some of the prostitute-visiting condom-hating ajosshis with AIDS and so on to sift out. |
Maybe it is clear to you and ATEK that putting the lives of teachers under a microscope is a good idea, but not to anyone who values his privacy.
As long as the ajosshi (and hence by extension the foreign teacher) is fulfilling his job's requirements, it is no one's business what he does in his private life. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 7:39 am Post subject: |
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| rollo wrote: |
| Yes stiffer checks are coming soon! Thanks to an '"associations" campaign to extend equal checks for all, the koreans are responding by tightening standards. A letter writing campaign by people who cant vote??? Koreans always see these things as interference in their internal affairs by a group of neocolonialist. Seems that you are having trouble adjusting to living in a country that is not like your own, Central CAli. Diversity, that means differences in laws customs, mores, attitudes. |
Yeah, seriously. If it's that important to you to be living in a country with a color-blind social system, you probably shouldn't have come to Korea to begin with.
And what really gets me about all this is that it's a well-known fact that a lot of hagwons(and maybe even public schools, for all I know) discriminate, pretty much openly, against non-whites in the hiring of ESLers. And yet, I don't recall ANY noble crusade among ESL teachers to rectify that particular injustice.
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| Yes stiffer checks are coming soon! Thanks to an '"associations" campaign to extend equal checks for all, the koreans are responding by tightening standards. |
The way I see it...
Right now, after much confusion, we've got a system in place that everyone understands, and which is being enforced with relative consistency. In this country, that in and of itself should be considered a step forward.
However, if ATEK succeeeds in getting the rules changed yet again, it likely isn't going to end up being a smooth, seamless transition into the new order. Instead, you're once again gonna have a hundred different bureaucrats running around, each with his own clueless explanation about what the new rules are. This will result in the same chaotic whirl of misinformation at consulates and immigrantion offices that we were seeing up until a few months back. |
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CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
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| Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 12:19 pm Post subject: |
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| rollo wrote: |
| Yes stiffer checks are coming soon! Thanks to an '"associations" campaign to extend equal checks for all, the koreans are responding by tightening standards. A letter writing campaign by people who cant vote??? Koreans always see these things as interference in their internal affairs by a group of neocolonialist. Seems that you are having trouble adjusting to living in a country that is not like your own, Central CAli. Diversity, that means differences in laws customs, mores, attitudes. |
Sounds like you haven't a clue as to what you're on about. |
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yawarakaijin
Joined: 08 Aug 2006
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| Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 8:49 pm Post subject: |
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I would have to agree that is a bit hypocritical, for what I am asssuming is a predominantly white group of people, to be up in arms about this when they are willingly and knowinly involved in an industry that has provided them their livelihood based on the colour of their skin.
Now all you certified teachers don't get your panties in a bunch. I'm sure a lot of you were hired on your qualifications as a teacher. Let's be honest though, you being "what the parents were looking for" probably played just as big a role in you being hired.
There are bigger fish to fry in my opinion. |
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CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
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| Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 11:57 pm Post subject: |
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| Your post more than ably shows the value of your opinion. |
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rollo
Joined: 10 May 2006
Location: China
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| Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 5:42 am Post subject: |
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| Yes indeed a letter writing campaign is going to change Korea!! Why with a little help by the mighty whitey it will be just like the WEst!! You have a job because you speak english not because of your experience or training a free apartment but that is not enough. Now you want to change the country's laws change it's culture, change the peoples attitudes. Good luck!!! Sorry but the way you referred to the Korean lawmaker as a scumbag, and other terms clearly shows your attitude of superiorty concerning Koreans. They have rights also, even if you dont agree with them. their opinions are as valid as yours. I mean this in the kindest of ways Central Cali, you are suffering from culture shock, maybe living and working overseas is not the best thing for you. |
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huffdaddy
Joined: 25 Nov 2005
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| Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 6:33 am Post subject: |
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| rollo wrote: |
| Yes blah blah blah you. |
What's wrong archie? Not enough attention being paid to you at the KH? How long until you get banned from this website? |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 9:51 am Post subject: |
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| Sorry but the way you referred to the Korean lawmaker as a scumbag, and other terms clearly shows your attitude of superiorty concerning Koreans. |
Actually, I agree that the minjudong politician, himself, is a scumbag. A xenophobic race-baiter on par with the guys back home who rail against anyone with different-coloured skin.
That said, within the context, I don't see his race-baiting as being worth the trouble of replying to, given that, according to what Cali says, all he is calling for is the closing of a loophole that never existed in the first place. And as someone else has pointed out, his whole schtick is a vote-getting exercise, aimed squarely at the paranoid Uri Nara crowd. If he's willing to go down that path in the first place, he's probably not gonna be very impressed to hear that a bunch of non-voting wayguks, most of whom will be going back home in a couple of years anyway, don't like his attitude. |
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