You know sometimes when I’m reading through the latest blog posts out there I stumble across one so egregious that I can’t help but write about it. I found this post this morning very disturbing: Brian in Jeollanam-do: Anti-English Spectrum head to LA Times: “It’s not stalking, it’s following,”
His Anti English Spectrum post covers a Los Angeles Time article about the group’s leader, Yie Eun-Woong.
Read it as soon as you can. Done? Alrighty then, can you believe that guy?
Yie waves off the criticism. “It’s not stalking, it’s following,” he said. “There’s no law against that.”
The thoughts of a warped mind. I can’t believe he gets away with stuff like that. How is not ruining the reputation of people with innuendo and skewed facts not against the law? I thought Korea was supposed to have some of the most severe anti slander legislation around?
Yie and his rabble rousing group use fear tactics to stir up ill will toward English teachers to what end? Does he want every teacher deported? Who would be next? Military? Businessmen? Chinese mail-order brides? Who knows what his end game is. Maybe he will only be satisfied when Korea is full of only 100% blood Koreans.
Of course then he’ll have no one to scape goat and will have to turn that beacon on his own people and himself.
Thankfully the times provided a photo so you can be on guard agaisnt any following!
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Sparkling Korea Bristles with Homophobia and Bigotry (Gurye English Town)
Forgive me, I have posted this on my blog, but I believe this spot is a more appropriate place for the below.
As the first and only American transgender person that I know of working in South Korea as an English teacher, I feel compelled to speak about my own experiences as a person that has been victimized by similar abusive acts of bigotry to what Yie Eun-woong and the Anti-English Spectrum is engaged in. I have been working as a teacher in South Korea for about four and half years. I have come to Korea with much teaching experience and a graduate degree and education from, yes, one of the top three universities in America for my major. I am the longest serving and most senior level native English speaking teacher in the county of my employ. I have consistently received impeccable teacher evaluation each year I have been at my job.
For the first three years of my job, I have truly had a fabulous working relationship with my co-workers and with the administrators of my program, and really loved my students and work. This all changed abruptly, immediately following the program being taken over by a new administrative staff, and them hiring a completely new group of co-teachers in my program. My former co-workers were all replaced with fundamentalist Christians who lived in the community near the school I worked in. One of which was the wife of a local conservative evangelical Christian minister of a very large church in the very small town I worked in. I went from hero to zero, overnight!
At about this time, I began to notice shocking and frightening intrusions into my privacy, all occurring around the time, one of my co-teachers began telling me that I was angry at her, and that she was frightened of me!!!! Further, this co-teacher began to ask me usual personal questions about my private life and background that was not in the context of our relationship and that she had no official need to know. I remember her becoming angry with me because I could not give her the zip code to my former American address that I long forgot!!! Her then becoming angry, once again, because I renewed my visa at the Korean immigrations office that I have been going to for the last four years, instead of going to the immigrations office she wanted me to go to.
The first thing that I noticed that was wrong was that things in my apartment were out of place, the frightened behavior of my little toy puddle puppy dog when I returned home from work, and that my personal papers and documents were searched and tampered with. Then, I noticed that many of my private documents regarding my personal history and background that qualified me for my teaching job in Korea were taken. I then noticed the memory disk of my digital camera that had some private and intimate photos of me was missing. I began to get many harassing phone calls, the rear tire on my motor bike was flattened nine times within a few months, the lock on the storage compartment of the motorbike was broken, my garbage was searched and picked throw, my e-mails accounts were hacked and tampered with, my e-mail address was used as an user name to post things on the Internet that would, at the very least, cause suspicion about me, my handbag was entered and its content was repeatedly tampered with and items were taken, my international phone card was stolen from my handbag while at work, my personal property at work was tampered with in such a way to deliberately remind me of these intrusions and to further frighten and harass me. On one occasion, as I entered my work place, and I discovered a clump of my light brown hair, hanging from the entrance light switch. I am the only westerner with light brown hair at my job. I began to notice the presence of the local police doing unusual and unlikely times and places. I was told by my local doctor that one of my co-teachers, and my supervisor came to his office with the local police demanding to see my medical files. I was stopped and questioned at the local train station about why I was there and where I was going. These things all began, from what I was told by a human rights investigator, after another native English speaking teacher in the small town I worked in outed me to my new Korean co-teachers.
When I attempted to report these issues to my co-teachers, they became very angry and accused me of making them up and called me a lyre. On one occasion, one of my co-teachers, angrily demanded that I go to the police with her, not to report the harassment, but because I had made a false accusation. When I attempted, in a frightened and intimidated manner, to report what was happening to my supervisor, I was treated not as a victim, but as a whistle blower attempting to cause trouble. My superior’s response to my request for help was; “that someone needed to be fired”. There was absolutely no attempt by my co-teachers or superior to aid me in any way. There was just an unexplained angry, defensive and reactionary response. I remember on one occasion, going to work, and discovering that I was locked out. I have always had the keys to my work place. On this occasion, my co-worker had a cable type of bicycle lock tide around the handles of the entrance doors.
These and many other things, all occurred in an environment of xenophobia, suspicion, passive aggression, and increasing anti social behavior towards me on the part of my co-teachers. When I sought help from outside Korean advocacy and human rights groups, I received little to no support, and this only inflamed the situation even further. I was told by the human rights organization that I contacted that they could not do anything because what was happening to me was a criminal, not a human rights issue!!!!
My co-teacher’s behavior was no longer limited to passive aggression, but now it was, in your face, overt anger and hostility. Subsequently, this same co-teacher, threatened, for whatever reasons, (possibly believing that she had dug up some dirt on me) to report me to the Korean Immigration’s Office and the United States Embassy!!! Although, my work record has been exceptional and I have received very favorable teacher evaluations since I started this job, my job has been placed in great jeopardy and there is almost an absolute certainty that my employment contract for next year will not be renewed!!!
After Leaving This Employer
Since leaving my job with this employer, I have been cyber stalked. My e-mail and personal computer files regarding my complaint with a number of human rights organizations about my former employer have been deleted from my E-mail accounts. My computer and E-mail accounts have been aggressively and repeatedly hacked.
That’s horrible what happened to you. Thank you for sharing your story. Hopefully something can be done to stop such practices and to end any further harassment you are suffering from.
At least he was able to bring the Expat/teaching community together in a way that might have been pretty tough before (e.g., ATEK,).
I take him seriously only because he’s clearly a troubled guy.
I agree. That’s about the only good thing this guy and his group have done.
Bottom line, then I’m not coming back to this topic again: 😉
At this stage, the less press he gets (and the fewer reasons we give him as Expats for going to the press), the better.
I was targeted by these losers……
I am a professional, non-drug-using guy who isn't "sexual harassing or "abusing" girls. I was accused of these things!!!!!
Not only was i slandered. I could have been fined, sent to jail, deported AND had my career ruined for the rest of my life.
My job says "everything is okay, just put it under the rug." However, they will NOT rehire me because of these shmucks. Will they give me a good reference? They only say that they will.
THERE ARE LAWYERS IN KOREA WHO CAN ACTUALLY HELP YOU. ANTI ENGLISH SPECTRUM FEARS THESE LAWYERS
John I'm sorry that hapened to you. If everything is okay as the school says then they should rehire you. What is the contact info for these lawyers who could help out someone if they find themselves in the same situation?
Ha! Becareful he’ll probably take you up on that and offer a job and then set you up for breaking your E2 visa.
He’s the real reason why i carry around pepper spray and have a paintball gun at home. Maybe if he “follows” me home and i “accidently” shoot him with said paintball gun, maybe he’ll look into getting a new hobby. god knows he cant be making any money doing this. and if he is….. can he get me a job?
I had this to say… I suggest a firm kick in the pants.
Rebecca had this to say….Jane : True that. Or maybe a brain transplant?
Brian : He'd have you deported for that.
One extremist (or whatever you want to call this guy) I can handle. The scariest part of the article for me was those writing in response to justify putting some innocent people in harm's way in order to weed out the bad ones. So a few foreigners have to be assaulted by disgruntled and uninformed Korean activists…it's for the common good. Really? Is it really?
about an hour ago ·
Jane had this to say…Sounds like dude needs to get some ass…or a hobby.
Kalli had this to say…Gees… some people have too much time on their hands and just don't know how to utilize it well.