Korean Job Discussion Forums

[slade987]

I have just finished my second contract in Korea on December 5th. I was setting up to take a new position near Seoul starting in January. I emailed the recruiter all my documents and kept asking him when I could get a copy of the contract to review. Finally, he gets a copy to me the day I leave on vacation to Taiwan asking my to sign, scan and send it back to him ASAP. Some things didn't look right at first as the contract was listed with a different elementary school than what he had been telling me (albeit in the same general area). The time was also different from what he had originally told me. He then later sends me two revised versions of the contract updated to actually have my name, but other than that basically the same thing. Also, I sent him my actual documents (diploma, transcripts, background check with apostille, and photos) to him in the mail before I left Korea, only to get an email from my former boss saying that the package had been returned because there was no one by that name at the address in Seoul that he gave me.

After all that, talking to my friends in Taiwan that are former Korea expats, and seeing life here first-hand, I emailed him informing him that I no longer wanted the job and was now considering looking for work in Taiwan. I tried to be nice about the situation. However, I then get this threatening email back basically telling me that he thinks I've been here working illegally and he's going to contact police in Taiwan to have me arrested for that. Also, he was giving all the emails we had to his lawyers as evidence that I "agreed" to the job in email and use that as ground to sue me for breaking my contract, saying that he can and will win against me. Later, I talk to him on Google Chat and he tells me that the school is charging a penalty of 1 million won because it's a public school and this special after school class that I was going to teach would no longer be able to start on time. He says he's going to talk to the school try and get a discount on the "penalty". The next day I receive another email saying that he can't wait to find another teacher and that I now need to send him 750 USD to pay the "penalty" immediately.

I ignore his request because I believe he has no legal ground to do anything to me and that he's only trying to recover his recruiting fee that he's no longer getting cause he's not placing me at the school anymore.
His latest threat came this afternoon saying that, "No-reply is very very dangerous. Please keep in mind if you want to teach in Asian Countries."

After talking to my former boss in Korea and a Korean friend of mine that works with the labor boards in and around my former area in Korea, I believe even more so that he's just trying to get money from me. I would appreciate any additional feedback I could get on this. I'm going back to Korea on Tuesday to get the rest of my stuff and head back to Taiwan and don't want any trouble while I'm there. Thanks for your help and sorry this is so long!

[blackjack]

idle threat don't worry about it

[Khyron]

Name and shame the MFer.

To think that he thinks that Taiwanese police will give a [Mod Edit] about not taking a job that you didn't sign a contract for in Korea. You didn't sign anything, and therefore didn't break any "contract". He's totally full of it.

[Savant]

Instead of owning up to his own incompetence, the recruiter is now in "saving face" mode. All objectivity and rationality goes out the window during the duration of this phase.

It's likely, he promised the Public School that you would be teaching there. A promise that he shouldn't have made. Now, that they don't have a teacher, the school are upset with the recruiter.

Don't sweat it. Just ignore the recruiter and enjoy your vacation in Taiwan.

[bliss]

Just email him back and tell him he's a silly wanker.

Don't worry. - he's just angry. They are just idle threats. I don't think there's much he can do.

Who is he?
Name + company please.

[antoniothegreat]

or, mess with him, tell him you really want to keep your options open in korea and taiwan and you will be sending the money asap. ask him for his bank account info.

or tell him you will take the job and ask him to fax the contract. pull his strings, like make minor changes and fax it back for his agreement (unsigned) like change the start time to 3:00 from 2:45 and tell him you eat a late lunch. ask him to get approval for the change and send it back to you. continue...

[lifeinkorea]

yea, send like 10 won his way every week LOL

[VFRinterceptor]

Did you sign any contracts and send them to him?

--If you did, I can see why he'd be frustrated, but according to what you said, some things on the contract are different than what you discussed, a huge red flag.

--If not, he has no grounds to harass you, furthermore, his attempts to intimidate you are called extortion, and that's flat-out illegal.



All recruiters have to be registered with the Korean govt. (Immigration or Labor Board, ?). Recruiters usually put their registry number on all their emails, or it can be found on their website. Also, you might want to post the guys info somewhere so if his name/email is googled, your warning shows. After you are setup in Taiwan, I would contact the govt office that issues these registry numbers in Korea and notify them about his poor practices. You can't be the first person he's tried to extort and God knows how many other teachers he's screwed over.

If you decide that it's not worth it and you just don't care, cut all communication from him, but keep his emails in a special file, in case the guy decides to do anything dumb.

Best of luck in Taiwan.

[slade987]

I never signed anything. He sent me a contract the day I was leaving for Taiwan. Then he sent me a different one. Then after that, he sent me a different version of page 1 of the second contract he sent me. It all really looked like some generic contract that he found somewhere on the internet and modified to include mine and the school's name. He just kept emailing repeatedly after that pushing me to sign it and get it back to him ASAP.

After all that mess is when I received an email from my old boss saying that all my documents that I tried to send this guy had been sent back. The mailman said that no one with the recruiter's name existed at the address I was told to send them too. All of this really made me realize I shouldn't take this job and jump ship. I'll email him in the morning to give him one last chance, if he screws that up, I'll be blacklisting him all over the internet. I know he doesn't deserve me being nice, but I hope I'm a much better person than he is.

Thanks for all your feedback. I'll be sure to keep updating the situation.

[thecount]

[VFRinterceptor]

[slade987]

You guys are right. I owe way more to you than I do to him. No one deserves to have to deal with this crap ever. His name is Steve Park, [email protected]. The name on his email however is Woonkyu Park, which I'm sure in Korean would be 박운규. There was no registry number in any of his emails.

I never had any intention of sending him my stuff again. Before I sent the email saying I didn't want the job, I was so worried about getting my stuff back. You can imagine how ecstatic I was to get that email from my old boss (an honest and good Korean, for whom I enjoyed working) saying they had been sent back to him and he wanted to know what I would like for him to do with them.

Steve did send me all of his bank info when he was wanting me to wire him the money from here. The name on the account he sent me is Woon-kyu Park.

I'm still going to email him to see how he responds. This should be interesting.

[lifeinkorea]

[Old Gil]

[ontheway]

OP

It is generally possible to sue anybody for anything, so you should take your recruiter's threat seriously.

The man is an [insert dirty word for mod edit here] so he shouldn't be able to win such a suit, but it's in your interest to avoid it.

You should send the recruiter a polite, strong letter explaining that you never signed any contract and never agreed to sign any contract. That you were interested in looking at jobs he might have had to offer, but didn't like what he offered so you have declined that position.

You should also explain that you do not owe him any money as there was no breach of contract and no breach of any agreement of any kind on your part since no such agreement was ever made.

You can explain that you will not give in to his blackmail and threats and you will not send him any money, and that because he has now revealed his true colors, you will no longer do business with him in any case.

****

Never ignore legal action or threats of legal action.

It is possible to sue people and win, even if you have no real case and would lose if they showed up, because they have ignored the lawsuit and failed to respond or show up in court. Then, you can get a court order for contempt, an arrest order and forced payment.