Monday, November 16, 2009

NHN 한국 본사에 보내는 편지



사랑하는 대한민국 네티즌 여러분! 여기에 댓글을 꼭 올려주세요!!!
저는 한국의 온라인 공동체 네티즌 여러분이 이 이슈에 대해 어떻게 생각하는지 매우 궁금하고 관심이 많습니다.


댓글을 올리기 위해서는 '로그인' 하실 필요도 없고, 또 개인적인 정보도 남기실 필요가 없습니다. 댓글 올릴 때 완전히 익명으로 남고 싶으시면, 그냥 페이지 맨 아래에 조그맣게 쓰여있는 "Comment as: Select Profile...' (댓글 형태: 프로필 선택)이라고 표시된 작은 메뉴 상자에서 가장 밑에 있는 'Anonymous' (익명)을 선택하세요. 그리고서 그 바로 위에 보이는 'POST A COMMENT'라는 제목이 달린 큰 상자 안에다가 댓글을 쓰고, 다 썼으면 가장 밑에 보이는 'Post Comment' (댓글 올리기) 버튼을 클릭하시면 댓글이 올려집니다. 또, 이름과 URL을 남기고 싶으면, 같은 메뉴 상자에서 'Name/URL' (이름/URL)을 선택하세요.


감사합니다! 여러분의 의견을 기대하겠습니다!


-안드레아 (Andrea)

주식회사 NHN
경기도 성남시 분당구 정자동 25-1,
분당벤처타운 A동 9층
CEO 김상헌 대표이사 귀하

2009년 11월 6일

김상헌 대표이사님께,

이 편지를 보내드리게 된 동기는 타인종을 혐오하는 “반외국인” 모임이 NHN사의 인기 많은 인터넷 포럼 네이버 카페에 존재하고 있다는 사실을 알려드리기 위해서입니다. 해당 모임의 카페 URL은 http://cafe.naver.com/englishspectrum.cafe입니다. 이 모임은 자칭 “안티-잉글리쉬스펙트럼 (Anti-English Spectrum)이라는 이름 하에 운영되고 있습니다.

NHN사는 1999년에 Naver.com을 주식회사로 설립하고 서치 포털 “네이버”를 개시한 이후 크나큰 발전을 해왔습니다. Naver.com은 세계에서 다섯 번째로 가장 많이 사용되는 서치 엔진으로 성장했으며, “네이버”라는 이름도 일본, 미국 및 중국 지사의 설립과 함께 글로벌화되었습니다. NHN사가 자사의 국제적 이미지를 중요하게 생각하고 자사가 고용하는 직원들 사이에서도 다양성을 추구하고 장려한다는 사실은 명백합니다. 예를 들면, nhnusainc.com 웹사이트에 보이는 NHN의 직원모집 배너광고를 보면 이렇게 쓰여있습니다. “NHN USA 가족의 한 일원이 되세요!” 여기에 NHN “가족”을 대표하는 모습으로 여러 인종이 함께 섞여있는 가족의 모습이 보입니다. 이 이미지는 NHN사의 국경을 초월한 비전과 일맥상통합니다. nhncorp.com 사이트에 나와있는 설명에 의하면, NHN의 초창기 설립자인 김범수씨와 문태식씨 두 분이 2006년에 미국 시장을 배우기 위해 미국으로 이주하기로 결정했고, 그런 과정에서 해외에 살면서 매우 소중한 경험을 얻을 수 있었다고 되어있습니다.

NHN USA 본사처럼, 저 또한 캘리포니아 어바인시에 살고 있습니다. 사실, 제가 사는 집은 NHN USA 본부에서 고작 3마일 정도 떨어진 곳에 있습니다. 한국의 NHN사가 온전히 소유하고 있는 자사 NHN USA가 이 곳에 정착할 수 있게 된 사실에 대해서 저는 매우 자랑스럽습니다. 저 머나먼 한국에서 온 사람이 캘리포니아, 어바인시에 정착하여 새로운 회사를 세우고 또 심지어는 새로운 생활을 시작할 수 있다는 사실이 자랑스럽습니다. 또 다른 예로, 우리 도시의 가장 두드러지고 저명한 이민자인 강석희씨가 여기서 가족을 키우고, 성공적인 전문 이력을 키워나가고, 더 나아가서는 우리 도시의 시장이 될 수 있었다는 사실이 특별히 자랑스럽습니다. 우리가 사는 이 시대는 이러한 것들이 가능한 시대죠. 단, 충분히 열려있는 사회라야 그런 것들이 허용되지요.

한국어로는 “글로벌 지방화 시대”라는 표현이 있습니다. 이것이야말로 “글로컬라이제이션(glocalization)” 시대의 개념을 완벽하게 포착하는 말이죠. NHN사와 같은 글로벌 주자들이 우리 동네 바로 아래 골목에 살 수 있도록, 즉, 우리 동네, 우리 사회의 일부가 될 수 있게 해주는 그런 현상을 표현하는 개념이죠. 어바인시는 아주 멋지게 “글로컬(glocal)”한 곳이죠. 캘리포니아 대학교 어바인(University of California, Irvine)에서 국제 관계학 박사학위를 밟고 있는 학생으로서 저는 어바인시가 계속해서 그런 장점을 보유할 수 있도록 노력을 다할 것입니다.

그런데, 한국에서는 그러한 표현과 개념이 존재하지만, 그런 개념을 실질적으로 적용하고 뿌리 내리는 데에는 어려움이 많습니다. 글로벌화 시대는 한국에 새로운 사람들을 불러들였고, 한국인들은 친구나 새 비즈니스 파트너, 또는 배우자 등과 같이 개인적 연줄에 대해서는 종종 열린 마음을 가지지만, 불행하게도 증오심과 공포심 조성을 통하여 그런 연줄들을 없애버리려고 노력하는 안티-잉글리쉬스펙트럼과 같은 모임 또한 있습니다. 그 때문에 이런 연줄들이 더욱 더 영구적이고, 또 더 로컬화된 형태로 자라날 기회가 사라지게 되죠.

NHN사의 국제화되고 다양화된 기업이 되기 위한 노력과 헌신이 이렇게 명백한 것을 고려하면, NHN사가 이런 인종차별적이고 타인종을 혐오하는 모임에게 커뮤니케이션 네트워크로서의 서비스를 제공할 수 있다는 사실이 매우 이해하기가 힘듭니다.

1. 안티-잉글리쉬스펙트럼 카페는 한국법과 네이버 카페의 운영원칙을 위반하고 있습니다.

안티-잉글리쉬 스펙트럼 모임은 다른 인종에 대한 혐오를 증진시키는 “홍보 포스터”들을 그들의 카페 홈페이지에 올려놓고 있는데, 이 포스터들은 외국인들을 “검은 돼지[들] (Black pig[s])” 라고 부르고 있으며, 대한민국 국민들에게 외국인들이 “AIDS”를 가지고 있으며, “성추행”을 일삼고, 또한 “어린아이들을 [성추행의] 표적으로 삼고 있다”고 하고 있습니다. 이 모임이 일삼는 이토록 지극히 중상적이고 모욕적인 말들은 네이버 카페의 운영 원칙 중 “가. 이용제한 사유에 해당하는 게시물” 중에서 “4. 명예 훼손 게시물” 조항을 위반하고 있으며, 심지어는 대한민국 형법까지도 어기고 있습니다 [형법 제 307조 (명예훼손), 제 309조 (출판물 등에 의한 명예훼손), 제 311조 (모욕)]. 특정한 사람들이 AIDS를 가지고 있고 또 어린 아이들을 성추행 하려고 한다는 내용의 문서를 발행, 인쇄하고 배포하는 것은 아주 심각한 위법행위입니다. 네이버는 이러한 내용의 문서가 네이버의 이름과 웹사이트 주소가 찍혀있는 상태에서 배포되고 있다는 사실을 알아야만 할 것 같습니다.

네이버의 이름이 찍혀있는 또 하나의 “홍보 포스터”가 서울 시내 거리에서 배포된 적이 있는데, 거기엔 이러한 내용이 쓰여져 있었습니다. “동남아 근로자는 백안시하고 파란 눈의 외국인에겐 지나치게 관대하다…” 단지 “파란 눈”을 가졌다고 해서 그에 대한 편협적 태도를 주장하는 것은 타인종에 대한 편협을 주장하고 옹호하는 행위입니다. 대한민국은 모든 형태의 인종차별 철폐에 관한 국제협약 (ICERD: International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination)은 “국내법과 같은 구속력을 가진다고” 선언했으며, 이 협약의 제 4조에 의하면, “홍보 포스터” 등을 사용하는 것처럼 “어떠한 형태로든 인종적 증오와 차별을 정당화하거나 증진시키려고 시도하는 모든 선전과 모든 조직”은 법으로 금지된 것이라고 하고 있습니다. ICERD의 제 4조 (a)항에 의하면, 이러한 인종적 증오와 차별을 증진시키는 포스터들이 올려질 수 있도록 허락함으로써 네이버는 “인종차별주의적인 행위를 돕는 일”에 참여하고 있는 셈이며, 이는 대한민국 정부가 “법으로 처벌이 가능한 범죄로 인정한다”고 했습니다. 이 모임이 존재할 수 있게 한 데에는 네이버의 역할이 아주 결정적인 역할을 해왔습니다. 이 모임이 “인종적 증오와 차별을 증진”하는 활동을 할 수 있도록 네트워크를 제공해주고 있기 때문입니다. 그런데 결정적으로 더 중요한 것은, 네이버의 좋은 이름이 이 타인종 혐오 모임에게 일종의 정당성에 가까운 것을 부여해주고 있다는 것입니다.

2. 안티-잉글리쉬스펙트럼 카페의 취지는 대한민국의 교육 제도를 개선시키는 것이 아니라 다른 인종에 대한 증오와 인종차별을 증진시키는 것입니다.

안티-잉글리쉬스펙트럼은 마치 “올바른” 영어 교육이 이뤄지도록 헌신하는 시민 모임인 것처럼 행세하려고 노력해왔으나, 이 모임의 활동과 비판의 범위는 한국인 피를 가지지 않은 강사들에게만 적용이 되어왔기 때문에 이 모임의 취지가 타인종에 대한 증오를 증진시키기 위한 것이라는 점이 아주 명백해지죠. 이 모임은 인종차별에 기초를 둔 취지를 가졌기 때문에 문제 있는 한국인 강사들이 저지른 여러 개의 큰 사건들에 대해서는 한 번도 문제 제기를 하지 않았습니다. 이 모임이 지키겠다고 선언한 “올바른” 영어 교육에 바로 이 한국인 강사들이 직접적인 위협이 되었음에도 불구하고 말입니다. 예를 들어, 2006년 안산 영어마을에 어린이 성추행 범죄로 한국인 강사가 체포되었을 당시에 이 모임은 전혀 관심을 보이지 않았습니다.

이 모임은 성폭행과 관련된 범죄 경력이 있는 외국인 강사들이 한국의 어린이들을 위협한다고 반복적으로 주장해왔으며, 이는 한국의 해이한 적격 심사 제도가 이들로 하여금 한국의 교육체계 내에서 일할 수 있도록 허락하기 때문이라고 합니다. 하지만, 올해 3월에 바로 이런 시나리오가 일어났을 때, 즉, 과거에 어린 미성년자들을 대상으로 한 성폭행 범죄로 여러 번 유죄 판결을 받은 강사가 또 한번 십대 미성년자를 강간한 죄로 체포 되었을 때에도 이 모임은 관심을 전혀 가지지 않았습니다. 그 강사가 한국인이었기 때문입니다. 이 사건으로 인해 성범죄 경력이 있는 자들이 계속해서 교실에 발을 들일 수 있게 한 한국 교육 제도의 허점에 대하여 전 사회에 걸쳐 격렬한 항의와 진지한 논쟁이 일어났음에도 불구하고, 이 모임은 해당 강사가 한국인이라는 이유로 전혀 관심을 보이지 않았습니다. 자신들이 지키겠다고 맹세한 바로 그 어린아이들을 공격한 이런 사건들에 대해서 이토록 무심한 것을 보면, 아이들의 안전을 위협하는 강사들로부터 아이들을 지키는 것이라고 내세우는 이 모임의 취지는 사실상 한국인 피를 안 가진 외국인들에 대한 인종적 증오를 증진시키는 행위들을 위장하기 위한 단순한 명목에 불과한 것입니다.

이 모임은 한국인 국적을 가진 강사들이 행하는 범죄에 대해서 무관심한 것 이외에 외국인 강사라도 한국인 피를 가진 외국인이면 그들의 범죄에는 무관심합니다. 이 또한 그들의 인종차별적 취지와 일맥상통하죠. 여기에는 여러 가지 예가 있습니다. 2006년 성남 영어 마을에 한 재미교포 강사가 초등학교 여자 어린이를 성추행한 죄로 해고를 당한 사건이 있었는데, 이 사건에 대해서도 이 모임은 아무 관심을 보이지 않았습니다 [링크 1, 2, 3]. 다른 예로, 과거에 절도, 마약, 불법무기 소지 등의 범죄 경력이 있는 갱단 멤버 출신의 재미 교포 여러 명이 한국에서 불법으로 영어 강사 노릇을 하다가 2006년에 붙잡혔을 때에도 이 모임은 전혀 관심이 없었습니다. 그들은 가짜 학위를 만들어 사용하고 원어민처럼 영어를 할 수 있는 능력을 가지고 한국에서 영어 강사 일자리를 구할 수가 있었습니다. 뉴스 기사들에 의하면, 이 중 한 사람은 한국에 있으면서 가짜 학위 위조 사업을 운영하고 있었고, 또 한 명은 불법 마약 거래를 하고 있었다고 합니다. 이런 사람들이야말로 바로 이 모임이 한국으로부터 퇴치하는데 혼신을 다하겠다고 한 “불법 저질 외국인 영어 강사들”에 속하지만, 이들이 한국 피를 가진 자들이었기 때문에 이 모임에게는 관심 밖이었습니다. 2008년에는 외국인 영어 강사인 데이비드 남이라는 사람이 살인죄로 붙잡혀 미국으로 다시 송환됐습니다. 남씨는 미국에서 도망 나와 한국에서 어린이를 가르치는 영어 강사로 일을 해왔습니다. 이 자도 역시 바로 이 모임이 내세우는 취지의 범위에 속하는 사람이었지만, 한국인 피를 가졌기 때문에 역시 무관심의 대상이었습니다.

3. 안티-잉글리쉬스펙트럼 카페의 활동, 내용 및 취지는 네이버 카페의 운영 원칙에 의하면 명백히 금지된 사항들입니다.

논쟁의 여지가 많은 견해도 표현될 수 있고 심지어는 가끔 불쾌한 언어까지도 사용될 수 있는 그런 활기차고 열린 환경 속에서의 자유로운 토론이 가능하도록 네이버는 사용자들의 권익을 보호해야 하겠지만, 한 가지 명백한 것은 타인종에 대한 증오나 차별에 대해서는 절대 관대해서는 안 된다는 겁니다. 네이버 카페의 운영 원칙 중 “가. 이용제한 사유에 해당하는 게시물”아래의 “4. 명예 훼손 게시물” 조항은 “특정인, 혹은 특정단체를 비방하고 명예를 훼손하기 위해 만들어진 카페를 금지합니다.”라고 하고 있으며, “나. 카페 이용제한 원칙”의 “6. 즉시 폐쇄” 조항은 “카페 개설의도가 불법적인 경우 경고 없이 카페가 임의 삭제될 수 있습니다.”라고 되어있습니다.

“페이스북”사(Facebook, Inc.)가 최근 호주에 있는 외국인 혐오 단체인 “나는 호주에 있는 이슬람교도들을 증오한다 (I Hate Muslims in Oz)”의 홈페이지를 폐쇄한 예를 보면, 이는 인터넷 소셜 네트워크 사이트가 사용자들이 자유롭게 발언할 권리를 고려하면서도 외국인 혐오증이나 타인종에 대한 증오심에 대해서는 강건한 입장을 보인 좋은 예입니다. 그런 내용물은 후원하기를 거부한 것이죠. 호주의 “I Hate Muslims in Oz” 모임은 증오 발언들 때문에 페이스북에서 폐쇄시켰습니다. 하지만, “안티-잉글리쉬스펙트럼” 모임의 경우는 이런 증오 발언을 넘어서서 그들은 자경단 역할까지도 하고 있습니다. cafe.naver.com 웹사이트는 이 모임에 의해서 추적당하는 외국인들의 정보 및 사진들을 저장하는 장소로 쓰여지고 있습니다. 이 모임의 카페 매니저가 코리아 타임즈 신문에 이렇게 설명합니다. “어떤 때는 밤을 새서 외국인들을 추적하고 감시합니다.” 이 모임의 웹사이트에는 얼굴에 낙서 칠을 했거나 눈을 긁어낸 외국인들의 사진이 올려진 것을 볼 수 있습니다.

안티-잉글리쉬스펙트럼 모임은 또한 외국인들이 의도적으로 한국 사람들에게 AIDS를 감염시키려는 음모를 꾸미고 있다는 주장의 증오 발언을 일삼고 있습니다. 이 모임의 카페 매니저는 이런 얘기를 올려놨습니다. “이태원 일대 떠도는 “에이즈 괴담” 소문의 진실… 외국인 에이즈 감염자들이 무차별적으로 에이즈를 퍼뜨리고 있다.” “이들이 외국의 에이즈 감염자 조직으로부터 사주를 받았는지, 한국 내 외국인 감염자끼리 자체적으로 활동하는지 여부는 아직 밝혀지지 않았다. 다만 자신들의 존재를 알리기 위해 에이즈를 퍼뜨리고 있다는 게 소문의 진상이다.” 네이버의 한 카페 매니저로서의 이러한 행동과 발언은 “네이버 카페 매니저를 위한 에티켓” 중 “1. 카페 개설에 대한 에티켓” 하의 (2)번 조항에 나와 있는 매니저로서의 책임과 의무를 망신스러울 정도로 위반한 것입니다.

에이즈 조직들은 이미 이 모임의 행동과 발언들을 책망하고 있습니다. 하지만, 네이버는 아직도 어떠한 행동도 취하지 않고 있습니다. 사실상, 지금까지 얘기한 모든 게시물과 내용물(또, 그 외의 추가적으로 인종적 증오와 차별을 증진시키는 내용물)은 아직도 http://cafe.naver.com/englishspectrum.cafe에 그대로 올려져 있습니다.

언론의 자유에 대한 원칙을 굳건히 믿는 사람으로서, 논쟁의 여지가 많은 견해도 표현될 수 있고 심지어는 가끔 불쾌한 언어까지도 사용될 수 있는 활기차고 열린 토론 환경 속에서 사용자들이 자유롭게 발언할 권리를 네이버는 지켜주고 보호해줘야 한다고 저는 믿습니다. 하지만, 언론의 자유에도 한계가 있죠. 저명한 미국 법학자이자 재판관이었던 올리버 웬델 홈즈 주니어(Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.)가 남긴 유명한 말이 바로 그러한 한계들을 설명하는 목적으로 전세계적으로 인용되고 있죠. “언론의 자유를 가장 엄격하게 보호한다 하더라도 극장에서 거짓으로 ‘불이야!’ 하고 외쳐 광란을 야기하는 사람이 보호되지는 않을 것이다.” 하지만, 안티-잉글리쉬스펙트럼이 전하는 거짓 메시지들, 즉, 에이즈 감염자 외국인들이 한국인들을 해치려고 한다는 거짓 이야기들은 바로 그런 광란을 야기하려는 목적으로 네이버 카페를 통해 몇 천명에게 널리 퍼뜨려지고 있으며, 그러한 목적 달성의 의미에서는 아주 크게 성공을 했습니다.

4. 대한민국의 주도적 국제 인터넷 회사로서 NHN사는 외국인 혐오증, 인종적 증오 및 인종 차별에 대항해야 마땅합니다.

대한민국의 진정한 국제 리더이신 반기문 UN사무총장은 최근에 “인터넷상의 증오행위(Cyberhate)”와 관련된 회담에서 연설을 하였습니다. 반 사무총장은 “인터넷이 우리 세상에 엄청나게 좋은 것들을 가져오기도 했지만… 고정관념적 편견이나 왜곡된 정보, 또 증오심을 퍼뜨리기 위해 정보 기술을 악용하는 사람들도 있다”고 지적했습니다. 안티-잉글리쉬스펙트럼이야말로 바로 반 사무총장께서 지적하고 있는 그런 류의 모임에 해당합니다. 외국인들이 비도덕적이고 위험하다는 기존의 고정관념적 편견을 강화시키고, 또 외국인들이 한국인에게 AIDS를 감염시키려는 음모를 꾸미고 있다는 터무니없는 소문을 퍼뜨리는 행위 등을 통해 이 모임은 다른 인종에 대한 증오심을 확대해나가려는 그들의 취지를 충분히 달성해나가고 있습니다.

‘정보사회 정상회의(World Summit on the Information Society)’의 ‘제네바 원칙 선언 및 행동계획(Geneva Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action)’은 “인종차별, 외국인 혐오증 및 그와 관련된 편협적 의식에서 유발된 행위들을 위해 정보와 통신 기술이 악용되는 것에 대한 예방적 조치”를 요구한다고 반 사무총장은 강조하였고, 그는 또, “인터넷 산업은 이런 증오 발언들이 인터넷 온라인 상 난무하지 않도록 도울 수 있다고” 했습니다. NHN은 반 사무총장의 조언에 따라 안티-잉글리쉬스펙트럼 모임의 증오 발언을 막는 일을 도와야 한다고 봅니다.

반기문 사무총장처럼 NHN사도 국제적인 마인드를 가진 한국의 리더입니다. NHN사는 최근 일본에도 네이버 서치 포털을 개시하였으며, 그 외에도 국제적인 포부가 큽니다. 그런데, NHN사가 국제 커뮤니티의 신뢰와 지원을 얻으려면 분명 국제 커뮤니티에 대한 배려의 약속도 보여줘야 하겠죠. 이렇게 외국인을 표적화하고, 추적하고, 모욕하는 외국인 혐오 모임을 후원하는 것은 국제 커뮤니티에 대한 배려의 약속과 일치하지도 않고 또 국제 커뮤니티에서의 네이버의 정체성과도 일치하지 않죠.

안티-잉글리쉬스펙트럼이 그들의 네이버 카페 웹사이트에 올려놓은 취지 선언을 보면, 그들은 외국인들에 대한 “분노”에서 모임이 생겨났다고 하였고, 그들의 임무는 “총을 메고 전쟁터로 나가는 것”과 비슷하다고 설명했습니다. 이러한 증오와 폭력의 메시지는 네이버 카페의 이미지와 전혀 일치하지 않습니다. “네이버 카페는 여러 사람들이 함께 모여 관심사와 정보를 공유하고 친목을 나누는 따뜻한 공간입니다”라고 네이버 카페의 운영원칙에서는 설명하고 있죠. NHN의 웹사이트를 보면 네이버의 취지가 “새로운 문화의 기반을 창출해내는 것”이라 하고 있으며, “상호 이해가 새로운 문화를 창출한다”고 되어있습니다. 개개인을 인종을 바탕으로 표적화하고 나라에서 추방하겠다는 안티-잉글리쉬스펙트럼의 취지는 “상호 이해”를 추구하고 “새로운 문화를 창출”하겠다는 네이버의 취지와는 완전히 상반됩니다.

NHN사는 인종차별, 외국인 혐오증, 그리고 증오 발언의 확산에 대해 강건한 입장을 취해야 합니다. 이는 네이버의 좋은 이름과 명성을 더럽히고 손상시키는 것들입니다. 그러한 의미에서 저는 네이버에게 다음과 같은 사항들을 강력히 제안하고 싶습니다:

● 외국인들이 성추행할 목적으로 한국의 어린이들을 표적으로 삼고 있다는 내용의 게시물들을 제거해주십시오.

● 외국인들이 한국인들에게 AIDS 또는 그 외의 병을 감염시키려 한다는 소문을 퍼뜨리는 내용물들을 제거해주십시오.

● 안티-잉글리쉬스펙트럼 모임의 수많은 “홍보 포스터”와 같이 타인종에 대한 증오와 차별을 증진시키는 목적으로 다른 인종을 비하하는 이미지나 메시지들이 든 내용물들을 제거해주십시오.

● 외국인들에 대한 더욱 더 큰 의혹을 불러일으키기 위한 목적으로 개개인을 인종이나 국적을 바탕으로 차별화, 표적화 및 낙인 찍는 내용의 게시물을 제거해주십시오.

● 자경단 활동과 관련된 내용물, 즉 외국인이건 한국인이건, 그 어떠한 사람에 대해서건 그들을 추적하거나 스토킹하는 행위에 대한 내용물들을 제거해주십시오.

● 다른 인종으로 구성된 연인 또는 부부 커플들을 표적으로 삼고 외국인과 어떠한 형태로든 관계를 가지려는 한국인들을 낙인 찍고 비하하는 내용의 게시물들을 제거해주십시오.



여기까지 읽어주시고 관심을 가져주신 것에 대해 감사 드립니다.



안드레아 반돔 드림.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Letter to the NHN Corporation


The letter below is concerned with a xenophobic Korean group called "The Citizen's Group for Upright English Education", but which is better known as the "Citizen's Movement to Expel Illegal Teachers of Foreign Languages" or "Anti-English Spectrum", which for almost five years has worked successfully with news media to portray foreign English teachers in Korea as unqualified, morally corrupt, drug-addicted, AIDS-carrying child molesters. Instead of being seen as a xenophobic fringe group, they were invited to an immigration policy meeting held by the Ministry of Justice in October 2007 which made it necessary for foreigners wanting to teach English in Korea to submit criminal record checks and drug and HIV tests. The latter two tests are not required by Korean teachers, and were made mandatory for not only new applicants, but even for teachers who had been working in Korea for years.









Mr. Philip Yun, CEO
NHN USA Corporation
3353 Michelson Drive
Irvine, California, 92612
November 6, 2009

Dear Mr. Yun:

This letter is to alert you to an “anti-foreigner” racial hate group that is operating on your corporation’s popular internet forum: Naver cafe. The cafe’s URL is http://cafe.naver.com/englishspectrum.cafe. The group refers to itself as “Anti-English Spectrum” and has over 17,000 members.

The NHN Corporation has made great strides since incorporating Naver.com in 1999 and launching the search portal “Naver.” Naver.com has grown to be the fifth most used search engine in the world and the Naver name has gone global with affiliates in Japan, the US and China. It is clear that NHN values its international image and promotes diversity in its workforce. For example, an NHN recruitment banner displayed on your nhnusainc.com website entitled “Come and join the NHN USA Family!” shows the NHN “family” as an interracial family. The image is consistent with NHN’s transnational vision. Your nhncorp.com site explains that in 2006, both of NHN’s original founders – Mr. Kim Beom-Su and Mr. Moon Tae-Sik – decided to relocate to the United States to learn the US market and in the process were able to gain valuable experience by living abroad.

Like NHN USA, I am a resident of Irvine. In fact, my house is only three miles from the NHN USA Headquarters. I take pride in knowing that NHN USA, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Korean NHN Corporation, has been able to find a home here. I am proud of Irvine, California as a place where a person can come, from as far away as Korea, and start a new company or even a new life. I am especially proud, for example, of our city’s most prominent Korean immigrant Sukhee Kang who raised a family here, had a successful professional career and was able to go on to become the mayor of our city. We live in an era where such things are possible if only our society is open enough to allow them.

The Korean expression global chibanghwa shidae (글로벌 지방화 시대) perfectly captures the “glocalization” era concept that has global players like NHN living right down the street – a part of our neighborhood and community. Irvine is a wonderfully “glocal” place and as Ph.D student in International Relations at the University of California, Irvine I plan to see that it stays that way.

In Korea, however, while the expression and the concept exist, the actual practice has had trouble taking root. The globalization era has brought new people to Korea, and while Koreans are often open to a personal connection that comes in the form of a friend or a new business partner or even a spouse, unfortunately there are groups like Anti-English Spectrum working to crush such connections with hatred and fear before they can grow into something lasting and local. 

Considering NHN’s obvious commitment to being an international and diverse corporation, it is very difficult to understand how NHN can offer its services as a communications network to a racial hate group.

1. Anti-English Spectrum’s Cafe Violates Korean Law and Naver Cafe’s Operating Principles

The Anti-English Spectrum group hosts “promotional posters” that promote racial hatred by calling foreigners “Black pig[s],” and telling the Korean public that foreigners have “AIDS,” engage in “sexual molestation” and are “targeting children.” This group’s highly defamatory statements violate Article Ga-4 (Defamatory Posts) of Naver cafe’s terms of service agreement and rise to the level of violations of the Korean Criminal Code [Defamation (Article 307), Defamation through Public Materials (Article 309), Insult (Article 311)]. Printing material saying that certain individuals have AIDS and are intending to sexually molest children is an extremely serious offense. Naver must be made aware that such materials are being distributed with the Naver name and website on them.

Another “promotional poster” with the Naver name on it was distributed in the streets of Seoul and told the public that “we look coldly upon Southeast Asian workers, yet we are much too generous and tolerant of blue-eyed foreigners…” Advocating intolerance just because someone has “blue-eyes” is advocating racial intolerance. Article 4 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), which the Republic of Korea has declared “has the same authority of domestic law,” says that “promot[ing] racial hatred and discrimination in any form,” such as with the use of “promotional posters,” is a prohibited act. Naver should be aware that by hosting these posters promoting racial hatred and discrimination, Naver is participating in “assistance to racist activities” under Article 4(a) of the ICERD, an offense that Korea has declared “punishable by law”. Naver’s role has been crucial to the organization; it provides the network for the group to be able to “promote racial hatred and discrimination”. But also of crucial importance, Naver’s good name has lent this hate group the semblance of legitimacy.

2. The Purpose of Anti-English Spectrum Cafe is to Promote Racial Hatred and Discrimination, Not to Improve the Education System in Korea

Anti-English Spectrum has tried to pass itself off as a citizens group dedicated to ensuring “upright” English education but the group’s activities and critique (focused only on non-Korean teachers) make the group’s agenda of racial hatred very clear. Because of the group’s race-based mandate, it has not addressed several major instances of problematic Korean teachers, even where these teachers have directly threatened the “uprightness” of English education, which this group has pledged to defend. In 2006, for example, when an arrest warrant was issued for a Korean teacher accused of sexually molesting children at the Ansan English Village the group took no interest. [Links: Korean, English]

The group has repeatedly claimed that foreign teachers with criminal histories of sexual assault are threatening Korean children because lax screening mechanisms allow them to work in the Korean education system. But when this precise scenario occurred in March of this year and a teacher with several previous convictions for sexual assault against minors was again arrested for raping a teen, the group was unconcerned because the teacher was Korean [Links: Korean, English 1,2]. Even though the incident sparked social outcry and serious discussion over a flawed educational system that failed to exclude previously convicted sex offenders from the classroom, this group took no interest because the teacher was Korean. The group’s indifference to attacks on the very children it pledges to defend makes clear that their alleged interest in protecting children from predator teachers is merely a front for promoting racial hatred of non-Korean foreigners.

The group is indifferent to the abuses of teachers who are Korean nationals but also – consistent with their racist agenda – the group is indifferent to the abuses of foreign teachers if only those foreigners are ethnic Koreans. There are several examples. In 2006, a Korean-American teacher was dismissed from Seongnam English Town after being accused of sexual molestation by a female elementary school student, but the group took no interest [Links: Korean 1,2, English 1,2]. Also in 2006, the group was completely indifferent when several Korean Americans gang members with criminal records for theft, drugs, and illegal weapons were caught working illegally as English teachers in Korea. They used fraudulent diplomas and their ability to speak English as native speakers to get jobs in Korea as English teachers. News reports explained that while in Korea one of them ran a fake diploma operation, while another worked as an illegal drug dealer. While these individuals are exactly the type of “illegal low-quality foreign English teachers” this group has dedicated itself to expelling from the country, they were of no concern to this organization because they are members of the Korean race. In 2008, foreign English teacher David Nam was extradited to the US on charges of murder. Nam had fled the US as a fugitive and worked as an English teacher of children in Korea – again clearly within the purview of the group’s mission statement – but again the group was indifferent because Nam was of the Korean race.

3. The Activities, Content, and Purpose of the Anti-English Spectrum Cafe Are Clearly Prohibited Under the Naver Cafe Terms of Service Agreement

While Naver should protect its users’ rights to speak freely in a robust and open environment where controversial ideas are expressed and even offensive language is used, it is clear that racial hatred and discrimination must not be tolerated. Accordingly, Article Ga-4 of Naver cafe’s terms of service agreement makes clear that a cafe created with the intention of defaming a particular group is prohibited and Article Ga-6 calls for “immediate closure” in such an instance.

Facebook, Inc.’s recent “unplugging” of a xenophobic Australian hate group called “I Hate Muslims in Oz” provides a good example of an internet social network considering the free speech rights of users but taking a strong stand against xenophobia and racial hatred by refusing to be host to such content [Links: 1,2]. The Australian “I Hate Muslims in Oz” group was shut down by Facebook because of hateful statements. But in the case of “Anti-English Spectrum,” the group goes far beyond statements of hatred – it takes action as a vigilante organization. The cafe.naver.com website is used to store information and photographs of foreigners who are being stalked by the group. As the cafe manager explained in the Korea Times, “Sometimes we stay up at night tracking and watching foreign nationals.” The website contains photographs of foreigners with their faces defiled or their eyes scratched out.

The Anti-English Spectrum group has also been responsible for hate speech that suggests a conspiracy by foreigners to intentionally infect the Korean population with AIDS. A post by the group’s cafe manager claims to relate “the truth behind the rumors circulating around Itaewon regarding the ‘AIDS horror story’ . . . that infected foreigners are indiscriminately spreading the virus.” “It is not yet known,” explains the cafe manager’s post, “whether a foreign AIDS-infected peoples’ organization is responsible for inciting these people, or whether it is the infected foreigners within Korea just working amongst themselves. The only truth known from the rumor is that these people are spreading AIDS in order make their existence known.” Such behavior by a Naver cafe manager is a shameful breach of the duties and responsibilities under Naver’s cafe’s rules of etiquette, section 1(2).

AIDS organizations have already condemned the group’s behavior for making these statements, but Naver has yet to take any action. In fact, all of the posts and material mentioned (and additional material promoting racial hatred and discrimination) are still at http://cafe.naver.com/englishspectrum.cafe.

As a strong believer in the principles of free speech, I have emphasized that Naver should protect its users’ rights to speak freely in a robust and open environment where controversial ideas are expressed and even offensive language is used, but even free speech has its limits. The famous quote by American jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. cited the world over to illustrate those limits explains that even “the most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic” [Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47 (1919)]. But Anti-English Spectrum’s false messages of AIDS-infected foreigners seeking to harm the Korean public, broadcast to thousands through its Naver cafe, hope to cause exactly such a panic and in fact have succeeded in doing so.

4. As the Leading International Korean Internet Company, NHN Should Take a Stand Against Xenophobia, Racial Hatred and Discrimination

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, a true international Korean leader, recently gave a speech at a conference on “Cyberhate.” The Secretary General pointed out that while “[t]he Internet has brought enormous good to our world . . . [t]here are those who use information technology to reinforce stereotypes, to spread misinformation and to propagate hate.” Anti-English Spectrum is exactly the type of group the Secretary General is referring to. By reinforcing existing stereotypes of foreigners as immoral and dangerous and spreading false rumors of a conspiracy to infect Koreans with AIDS, the group is fulfilling its mission of propagating hate.

The Secretary General noted that the World Summit on the Information Society’s Geneva Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action calls for “preventive action against abuse of information and communications technology for acts motivated by racism, xenophobia and related intolerance” and said that the “Internet industry can help ensure that hate speech does not proliferate online.” NHN should heed the Secretary General’s advice to help stop the hate speech from the Anti-English Spectrum group.

Like the Secretary General, the NHN Corporation is a Korean leader with an international mind-set. NHN has just launched its Naver search portal in Japan and has global ambitions. But clearly, if NHN hopes to win the trust and support of the global community it needs to show its commitment to caring about the global community. Hosting a hate group that targets, stalks and defames foreigners is inconsistent with such a commitment and inconsistent with Naver’s identity in the international community.

The Anti-English Spectrum’s mission statement on their Naver cafe website explains that the group was born of an “overflowing anger” with foreigners; and the group speaks of their mission as akin to “taking up arms and fighting in a war” [in English here]. This message of hatred and violence is totally inconsistent with the image of Naver cafe as “a warm place where people gather,” as described on Naver cafe service rules webpage. NHN’s website says that Naver’s goal is “[c]reating the foundation of a new culture” and that “mutual understanding creates a new culture.” Anti-English Spectrum’s mission of targeting individuals by race and expelling them from the country works directly against Naver’s goals of “mutual understanding” and the creation of a “new culture.”

NHN Corp. should take a stand against racism, xenophobia and the proliferation of hate speech that only serves to tarnish Naver’s good name and reputation. Toward such an end I strongly suggest that Naver:
  • Remove content that claims foreigners are targeting Korean children in order to sexually molest them.
  • Remove content that spreads rumors of foreigners seeking to infect Koreans with AIDS or other diseases.
  • Remove content that contains racially derogatory images and messages that promote racial hatred and discrimination such as the group’s many “promotional posters.”
  • Remove content that profiles, targets and stigmatizes individuals on the basis of race and nationality in order to expose them to greater suspicion.
  • Remove content that involves vigilante activities such as the tracking or stalking of any persons, whether Koreans or foreigners.
  • Remove content that targets interracial couples and seeks to stigmatize and degrade Koreans for having any kind of relationships with foreigners.
Thank you for your attention in reading.

Sincerely,

Andrea Vandom

Friday, September 18, 2009

Who is Anti-English Spectrum?


The following is a presentation that Ben Wagner prepared for the National Human Rights Commission of Korea and the Gonggam attorneys handling my case at the Constitutional Court. I've received his permission to put the powerpoint into a blog format. I found the background information on the how the HIV/AIDS tests & drug tests came about both enlightening and very disturbing. I thought other people would be interested in learning about it as well.


               
1.
This presentation will explain why the E-2 visa policy is about xenophobia and race, and why it signals the beginning of a disturbing trend in Korea which needs to be immediately addressed by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK).

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination is of crucial importance to understanding the E-2 visa issue.

The Commission should be reminded that the Convention is fully executed and binding upon the government as well as private individuals and organizations.

Indeed, in the words of the ROK “the Convention was ratified and promulgated by the Government with the consent of the National Assembly [and] [a]s such, it has the same authority of domestic law and does not require additional legislation."

The Commission’s attention should be directed to:

Article 2 of the Convention, which requires this nation to prohibit and bring an end to racial discrimination by persons, groups, and organizations, and “to review governmental, national and local policies, and to amend, rescind or nullify any laws and regulations which have the effect of creating or perpetuating racial discrimination[.]”

And Article 4, which requires that Korea declare illegal and prohibit organizations “which attempt to justify or promote racial hatred and discrimination in any form[.]”


        
2.
The NHRCK should be aware of General Recommendations number 30 (on discrimination against non-citizens) and number 31 (on the prevention of racial discrimination in the administration and functioning of the criminal justice system).

Had these recommendations been followed there would have been no need for the many complaints that have been made to this Commission because of the E-2 visa policy.

General Recommendation 31 warns about “searches which are in reality based solely on the physical appearance of a person, that person's colour or features or membership of a racial or ethnic group, or any profiling which exposes him or her to greater suspicion.”

General Recommendation 30 on the discrimination against noncitizens, section 3, details "protections on hate speech" --

This recommendation reminds the Republic of Korea to “Take steps to address xenophobic attitudes and behaviour towards non-citizens, in particular hate speech and racial violence, and to promote a better understanding of the principle of non-discrimination in respect of the situation of non-citizens”

It also reminds the Republic of Korea to “Take resolute action to counter any tendency to target, stigmatize, stereotype or profile, on the basis of race, colour, descent, and national or ethnic origin, members of "non-citizen" population groups, especially by politicians, officials, educators and the media, on the Internet and other electronic communications networks and in society at large"

The wording in general recommendation 30 is especially poignant as it so clearly illustrates the insidious process that has unfolded here in Korea and which has resulted in the E-2 visa policy.

Racial hate speech directed against noncitizens has been allowed to flourish unchecked, moving its way from hate groups on the Internet to mainstream media. It has since been taken up by public officials, it has been taken up by politicians and it has been taken up by educators and promulgated to society at large. It now threatens to become law.
         

3.
The Republic of Korea has explained to the UN Human Rights Council that a major part of the NHRCK’s work is educating and monitoring the media for representations of racial minorities in order to make sure that the spirit of respect for other races and a human rights friendly media exists in Korea.

The task of fulfilling the guidelines of General Recommendations 30 and 31 belongs to this Commission.

         
4.
A major source of the promotion of racial hatred and discrimination exists here. This website is the home of what used to be a small group of netizens who organized themselves in 2005. As you can see the membership numbers have grown, there used to be only a few hundred. Now, there are over 17,000.

The group’s website is hosted by Naver.com. Naver is the most popular search portal in Korea and accounts for over 70% of all search queries in Korea.  Naver hosts internet forums called "cafes" at cafe.naver.com and, with over 17,000 members, “the Anti-English Spectrum” cafe is Naver’s most popular cafe.

Race and racism is central focus of this organization. In this picture three mountains are shown, each representing a teacher of a different race. The Rocky Mountains represent the white race, Mount Kilimanjaro represents the black race, and Mount Baekdu represents the Korean race. The text has the black dolls beginning a hypothetical dialogue, which is concluded by a Korean narrator. The black dolls say that Korea is a racist country because it only chooses English instructors who are white, not those who are black. Because of this they – the black dolls – are suffering discrimination. The narrator concludes the dialogue by explaining that the real sufferer is the precious national teacher of the Korean race, who stands like Mount Baekdu.

The message is that racial discrimination is necessary in order to promote the interests of the Korean race.

The Commission is reminded of Article 4 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which states “Parties condemn all propaganda and organizations which attempt to justify or promote racial hatred and discrimination in any form”.

This is what we see here, an attempt justify discrimination. In order to preserve the precious Korean race teacher, the other races must suffer discrimination.

         
5.
This next piece of propaganda also focuses on race. In English it lists each of the despised races as "black pigs," "rednecks," and those from “Baquistan” – wordplay meaning “cockroach country”. It shows images of blacks wearing face paint in one picture and carrying guns in another. In another picture people are shown holding flags with Arabic writing. The text says “anyone” is welcome to be an English teacher in Korea. It explains that all of the world’s “idiots” come to Seoul, specifically to Itaewon, where they can enjoy free alcohol and free sex.

Again, Article 4 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination is directly on point. Article 4 explains that the Republic of Korea not only has an affirmative duty to “adopt immediate and positive measures designed to eradicate all incitement to, or acts of, such discrimination” but it also must “declare illegal and prohibit organizations [that pursue the type of] racially discriminatory propaganda activities” we see here.

In fact, the Convention states that “participation in such organizations or activities [constitute] offence[s] punishable by law.”

In agreeing to Naver’s terms of use agreement, cafe.naver.com members agree not to engage in illegal or improper conduct. Naver also states that service will not be provided in cases of illegal or improper conduct. However, Naver has continued to host the hate group’s website for over four years now as it has become Naver’s most popular “café” blog.

         
6.
The group calls these racist images “promotional posters”. They are featured prominently on the website. They are very large and designed to be downloaded, printed out and distributed as propaganda. Here are a few of them. As you can see there are several pages available.

Again, under article 4 of the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, “promot[ing] racial hatred and discrimination in any form,” such as with the use of “promotional posters,” is a prohibited practice which is illegal under Korean law.

By hosting on these posters promoting racial hatred and discrimination, Naver has participated in “assistance to racist activities” under Article 4(a) of the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, an offense that Korea has pledged to declare “punishable by law”. Naver’s role has been crucial to the organization; it provides the network for the group to be able to “promote racial hatred and discrimination”. But also of crucial importance, the Naver brand name lends this hate group the label of legitimacy.

         
7.
Here the group is distributing some of its racist “promotional posters” on the streets of Seoul.

         
8.
Notice the Naver website address featured on these racist promotional posters instructing citizens where to find more materials provided by this group. Above the naver.cafe website, there is a quote where the group is again actively promoting racial hatred.

The Anti-English hate group explains that “we look coldly upon Southeast Asian workers, yet we are much too generous and tolerant of blue-eyed foreigners…”

         

         
9-10.
Here is more literature designed to incite racial hatred which the group distributes among Korean citizens with the Naver address prominently featured. These cards say that “foreign English teachers” have “AIDS,” engage in “sexual molestation” and are “targeting your children”.

         
11.
It’s important to recognize that this group is focused on discriminating on the basis of race and not because of citizenship. In fact, although the terms “white” and “black” are often used by this group to refer to race, even the term “foreigner” is used by them to designate someone not of the Korean race.

The spokesman for this “Anti-English” group, Lee Eun-ung, makes this clear in a recent Seoul Shimun article. In discussing non-citizens English teachers of Korean descent, Lee uses the term “brethren” and elsewhere simply refers to them as “Koreans”. He explains that “to treat the Republic of Korea’s brethren like foreigners would be unreasonable.”

Therefore, the “Anti-English” group believes that background checks and other precautionary measures should be for “foreigners” only; non-citizen English teachers of Korean descent should be exempt.
         
12.
Indeed, despite several high profile cases of criminal activity and drug use by non-citizen English teachers of Korean descent, this organization has remained true to its mission of censuring only non-citizen teachers who are of foreign races and never non-citizen teachers of the Korean race.

The Korean Americans gang members discussed in this article worked as English teachers in Korea. They had criminal histories for theft, drugs, and illegal weapons. They used fraudulent diplomas and their ability to speak English as native speakers to get jobs in Korea as English teachers. The article explains that while in Korea one of them ran a fake diploma operation, while another worked as an illegal drug dealer.

While these individuals are exactly the type of illegal English teachers this group has dedicated itself to expelling from the country, they are of no concern to this organization because as members of the Korean race they are “brethren” and not “foreigners”.
        
13.
Even arrests for murder are apparently not a concern for this organization if the individual is of the Korean race. David Nam is a Korean American who was arrested for murder in the U.S. and then fled to Korea in 1998. Nam worked as an English teacher of children and lived in Korea for the next ten years.

A Korean police officer explained that “[a]s a native English speaker it would have been very easy for Nam to get a job as a teacher and make a living."

         
14.
In keeping with his group’s belief that treating “brethren like foreigners would be unreasonable,” the spokesman for the Anti-English hate group has argued that ethnic Koreans should be able to bypass AIDS and drugs test as well.

The group hasn’t presented any data as to why they believe ethnic Korean are less likely than other ethnic groups to use drugs or transmit AIDS, but this neglect makes sense if one recalls that the point of requiring foreigners to submit to drug and AIDS tests has never been about real concerns over drug use or AIDS. Instead, the drug and AIDS tests were introduced as a method of stigmatization.

         
15.
That the drug tests were instituted simply to stigmatize foreign English teachers as “drug abusers” becomes very clear when we look at the data for the years prior to the institution of the drug tests. The column that indicates narcotics (마약) shows the drugs that teachers are tested for under the E-2 visa requirements. As you can see, according to the Narcotic Division of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, there were no arrests for those drugs. In other words, when the drug tests were instituted in 2007 teachers were tested for drugs they had never been arrested for using. On the other hand, there have been arrests for marijuana. But marijuana isn’t tested for.

Such a system seems illogical, but in reality it serves exactly the purpose it was designed to serve: stigmatization.

         
16.
As a precautionary screening measure the tests are a dismal failure since they don’t screen for drugs that foreign English teachers have been arrested for. But again, keeping drug using foreign English teachers out of the classrooms is not the purpose of the E-2 drug tests. The purpose of the E-2 drug tests is to stigmatize foreign English teachers in Korean society as drug users. In accomplishing this goal of stigmatization, the drug testing has been a great success.

By broadly proclaiming to the public that drug abuse is so rampant among foreign teachers that the government has had to step in and demand medical drug tests for the entire foreign teacher population, the stigma of the foreign teacher as illegal drug abuser has been well established.

         
17.
It’s exactly the same story with the AIDS tests – they are all about stigmatization. And what is especially revealing is that in its haste to stigmatize foreign English teachers residing in Korea, the government has neglected its own laws on AIDS and disease prevention which require HIV/AIDS tests to be given in the home country of foreign visa applicant as “entry requirements”. But the E-2 visa HIV/AIDS tests are not entry requirements. Foreign teachers, regardless of HIV status, must first come to Korea where they are required to submit to tests in-country.

         
         
         
         
         
18-22.
Korean laws on HIV/AIDS make clear that the legally required method of handling foreigners deemed to present the threat of AIDS is to conduct overseas tests in the sending country and to condition the issuance of visas on an applicant’s HIV negative status. But the E-2 visa policy in-country tests are in direct contravention of these laws.

Anxious to stigmatize foreigners living in Korea as infected with AIDS, the E-2 visa policy has neglected its own legally established HIV procedure and violated two binding Acts from the National Assembly.

While we must be clear that these HIV restrictions on foreigners as they are written are laws we are critical of and we don’t want to appeal to them for support in criticizing the E-2 visa policy, the fact that the government has violated its own laws for what it has defined as effective prevention strategy against foreigners with AIDS is highly significant.

It demonstrates, quite effectively, that the intent of the new E-2 visa HIV tests actually has nothing to do with AIDS prevention and everything to do with discrimination and stigmatization.

And that is the key to understanding the new E-2 visa AIDS tests in Korea. They are all about trying to mark foreigners already living in Korea with the stigma of the AIDS-infected.

That's why in-country testing and deportation was necessary. An overseas testing program wouldn't have been as effective in stigmatizing in-country foreigners.

         
23.
HIV/AIDS testing foreigners on working visa is nothing new. The E-6 “entertainer visa” has been around for many years. Here’s an article from 2003 with Japanese actress You-Min (Yuko Fueki) complaining about being discriminatorily tested for HIV/AIDS. So Korean government authorities are well familiar with testing foreigners for HIV/AIDS, and the process established by both the AIDS Prevention Act and the Immigration Act is to require HIV/AIDS testing in the home country of the visa applicant before entry to Korea is allowed.

The standard overseas testing procedure, as required by Article 8(3) of the AIDS Prevention Act, is common knowledge. See the quote, for example, from the same article about the Japanese actress mentioning the procedure: “So last month in Japan,” it says, “after receiving an HIV negative result, the medical certificate was submitted to the Korea Immigration Office.” As required by Korean law, the Japanese actress had to take obtain an HIV negative test result from her home country of Japan before being admitted to Korea.

         
24.
Contrast that with the approach of the E-2 visa where foreigner teachers are required to be tested in Korea.

This is Andrea Vandom, an E-2 visa holder and professor of English at Chung-Ang University. Ms. Vandom was the first English teacher to legally challenge the E-2 visa requirements as unconstitutional. The Constitutional Court has recently accepted her case. After living and working in Korea for 3 year as a professor of English at Chung-Ang University, in 2008 the government demanded she submit to an in-country HIV/AIDS test.

When she was told about the mandatory HIV test Ms. Vandom was disappointed with the discriminatory travel restrictions but contemplated submitting an HIV negative result from her home country in satisfaction of the requirement. But as a foreign English teacher, it was explained to her, she would not have the option of taking the HIV/AIDS test in her home country -- she would have to take it in Korea.

Again, like the drug testing of foreign English teachers, this approach to HIV testing seems illogical. While Ms. Vandom happens to be HIV negative, if, hypothetically speaking, Vandom had tested positive for HIV in her home country then the immigration authorities could have denied her a visa and effectively upheld the entry requirements of both the Immigration Act and AIDS Prevention Act. Why would the immigration authorities break their own law, invite an HIV positive foreigner into the country, wait 3 months to test the individual only to issue a deportation order sending the person right back to where they could have kept her in the first place? It’s very clear that the E-2 visa HIV tests fail miserably to uphold the accepted (though misplaced) legal procedure in Korea for immigration and AIDS prevention. If we keep in mind, however, that they weren’t designed with AIDS prevention in mind, but with the intent to stigmatize foreign English teachers in Korean society as an AIDS threat, then we see that the E-2 visa policy has actually been a great success.

And as we will see, it is the racist Anti-English group that has operating as lobby group, for four years now, pushing very hard from behind the scenes to get foreign English teachers AIDS tested.

Marking foreign English teachers with the AIDS stigma has been an especially important goal for this group in order to frighten Korean women from engaging in interracial sexual relations.

25.
Condemning even the suggestion of interracial sex is a major concern for this organization.

Scenes such as this one, showing a Korean woman and a foreign man dancing together, are unacceptable to this hate group. This is one of the pictures that this organization was founded on in 2005. They were taken at a nightclub party. The party was hosted by foreigners who contributed to a website called English spectrum. The racist hate group takes its English name “Anti-English Spectrum” from this website.

Korean netizens have added a caption to the above photo, which reads “Come to Korea, every night take your pick and have good time” the message is attributed to “Korean Fucking Girls” – a double entendre indicating these Korean women are despised by Korean males and sexually available to foreigners.

Korean women are often targets of this group for their betrayal of the their race by having relationships with members of different races – dancing with or even talking to members of different racial groups puts Korean women in danger of persecution from this group.

         
26.
This is a woman whose picture appeared in a photograph taken at the nightclub party. She required psychiatric treatment after being stalked and harassed by phone and email. She made clear one of the sources of this harassment: “Some online articles and the Anti-English Spectrum cafe said we were prostitutes, western princesses, and brothel keepers.”

         
27.
This is the original banner for the group’s website in January 2005. The banner shows images from the nightclub party that sparked the furor that would forge the group.

As the group’s mission statement explains it:

“Our anger overflowed, as we felt unendurable humiliation through reading of the debasement of Korean women by the arrogant, infamous English Spectrum. We gathered here [at this website] with our seething consciences, our ‘active consciences,’ which could not stand this. A heart which could hear of this evil work and yet be able to endure it is a heart that has already shriveled up and died. Bothered by this, and gathering our power together, our consciences would not allow us to overlook this tragic story as if we were looking across a river. We are aware that loving your country does not only mean taking up arms and fighting in a war…”

         
28.
The next incarnation of the group’s website in 2006 is also instructive. Across the top banner stretches various patriarchal heroes. The red text reads “The blood of our ancestors protects the motherland.” On the right Admiral Yi Sun-sin is shown brandishing a sword with the words “Citizen’s Movement to Expel Illegal Foreign Teachers”. On the left is shown a hwarang, meaning the “flowering of Korean manhood.” The hwarang represent “an ideal man: one of honor, strength, responsibility, and virtue” – the antithesis of the foreign male.

         
29.
Looking at the evolution of the banner designs, we see the group trying to distance itself from its negative identity origins as an “anti” organization and also to advance a locus of concern (first, defending the motherland; second, protecting children) that will appeal to a broader membership base.

In the shift from the first banner to the second, the group struggles to overcome the “unendurable humiliation” suffered because of the betrayal of Korean women by putting a pronounced emphasis on Korean patriarchal potency and martial pride. The second banner elevates the status of members from humiliated cuckolds to defenders of the motherland. If “those women” (“그녀들” as they are often called) cannot be relied on then it’s up to the men to “expel” the invaders. Accordingly, the name of the group becomes the “National Movement to Expel Illegal Foreign Teachers.”

In the final and most current design, the children, who were absent in first and barely visible in the second, have now swollen to fill the entire banner, concealing the emphasis on the blood of Korean ancestors and the patriarchal theme. The group now portrays itself as the moral regulators of the English language learning phenomena in Korea. Accordingly, the name of the group becomes the “Citizens Group for Upright English Education.” The Anti-English group has tried to position itself as essential player in English language learning in Korea. “Low quality English instructors,” the group explains, “prevent our land from learning English.” The Korea Foreign Teacher Recruiting Association (KFTRA) will regulate the import of foreign teachers, the Korean Association of Foreign Language Academies (KAFLA) will regulate them in the workplace, and the Anti-English group will regulate foreign teachers’ free time and their expulsion from the country for any behavioral breaches. The fact that the group is still focused on expelling foreigners is preserved in the sub-heading: “National Movement to Expel Illegal Foreign Teachers”.

        
30.
Notice that, beneath the pantheon of patrilineal ancestors and to the left, there is a small picture of a woman. She’s the only woman shown on the page. Her name is “Non Gae” and she is a Korean courtesan (kisaeng) from the late 16th century. She is shown in a yellow hanbok.


         
31.
Nongae is revered for hurling herself off a cliff while embracing a Japanese general, killing them both. The message is that sacrificing one’s life (and taking the foreigner with you) is better than betraying Korea by having sex with a foreigner. The website creator laments the loss of Korean women ready to follow Nongae’s example. The caption in Korean reads: “Nongae, we miss you.” 
        
32.
Here is another picture from the same 2005 party. The caption, created by Korean netizens, reads “Korea is a country where the women are easy to sleep with.” Korean women are often targeted by this group for their betrayal of their race.


33.
Korean women seen with white men are labeled “빽빠,” meaning “white man groupies”. This image lists the negative traits ascribed to Korean women labeled as “빽빠.”

         
34.
This next slide shows another “promotional poster” from the group with further justification for racial hatred for the white foreign English teacher. As this poster tries to illustrate, interracial sex is not a victimless activity. The Korean woman’s hard-working father is shown in the background working himself to death so that his daughter can feed stacks of Korean currency into the mouth of the white foreign English teacher whose only interest in the relationship is money and sex. Her “빽빠,” groupie status, is made clear by her “I love foreigner” t-shirt.

         

         
35-36.
Several other posting at the Anti-English website target Korean women and censure them for having relationships with foreign men.

         
37.
This post targeted a separate website where Korean women showed interest in foreign men. These women are told that “90% of white men in Korea are villainous human garbage..”

         
38.
Stories and images move from the Internet into the media. This is the same picture shown above and as you can see it has found its way into the newspapers. The graph shows that in the week the Anti-English group was formed “foreign instructors” was a popular search term on the Internet. It will become increasingly popular in the news media in the following years.

         
39.
This 2005 story in Breaknews called "Tracking AIDS-Suspicious Foreign Teachers on the Blacklist" was a major propaganda victory for the Anti-English hate group. This article does many things.

It links foreign English teachers with sexual debauchery and stigmatizes them with the AIDS virus.

It warns Korean women that consensual sex with foreigner language teachers will lead to a deadly disease.

The article attempts to shock its readers by explaining that 80% of foreigners seeking AIDS tests at an Itaewon AIDS counseling center were foreign English teachers.

This data is presented as if it were evidence that foreign English teachers are an AIDS threat to Korean society. It also implies that being voluntarily tested for AIDS is a bad thing, which is clearly not a message that benefits the public health.

For all of its scare tactics and sleazy journalistic style, the article shows a sophisticated understanding of immigration law. The article explains that while the E-6 entertainers’ visa requires an AIDS test, the E-2 foreign language teacher's visa does not.

         
40.
The article concludes with a contribution which says that since foreign English teachers lead perverted and overactive sex lives and have AIDS (as evidenced by their voluntary HIV testing rate), the E-2 visa should be amended to include a mandatory HIV/AIDS test for foreign English teachers.

This was in September 2006, within about a year this is exactly what will occur. And as we will see, it was an intense lobby effort by the Anti-English group to have foreign English teachers marked with the AIDS stigma that was responsible for getting the tests instituted.

It is important to note that the article’s focus on E-2 visa holders marks a significant change from the group’s earlier tactics. When the group was first formed in January 2005, they defined problematic foreign English teachers as those “without E-2 visas,” not those working with E-2 visas. Their February 2005 flyer, for example, says:

“Definition of low-quality native speaker teachers: those who have come to Korea without E-2 visas for the purpose of engaging in sexual pleasures and to create trouble. What are E-2 visas? Visas that are issued by the Immigration Office to those who have a 4-year university degree from overseas and have a teaching license.”

This initial approach is logical. Because it’s impossible for the group to achieve its goal of punishing foreigners for “engaging in sexual pleasures” without these foreigners actually breaking any kind of laws, it makes sense to portray them as working illegally without a proper visa and without the proper qualifications. But there are a few problems with this approach. First, unless they are caught in the act, foreigners working illegally as English teachers in Korea are a difficult group to identify. Thus, rather than try to hit a moving and vaguely defined target, it made sense for the group to focus on stigmatizing E-2 visa teachers. Second, the group gradually became aware that the teachers they were most interested in targeting were qualified and working legally in Korea. As we will see this second point has continued to prove a challenge for the group.

         
41.
A posting on the group’s Internet site just after the article comes out takes credit for contributing to the Breaknews newspaper article. The group has been responsible for feeding the media and the government with discriminatory propaganda on foreign English teachers, and as we will see, it has been accepted by them without question.


42.
Rarely is the pattern of intentional discrimination as clear as it is in this case. But with the Anti-English group we can actually trace, step by step, the moves the group makes to target and label foreign English teachers as an AIDS threat and the willing acceptance of these moves by the Korean government.

The inspiration for the September 2006 Breaknews article that we have just examined came as a result of the article displayed above that dealt with concerns over AIDS and foreigners.

This article points out there are few places for foreigners to be tested and that illegal aliens, unaware of their HIV status, may be unknowingly spreading the disease because of the government’s lack of proper policies and facilities. The article concludes by explaining that experts say that the government needs to establish a better HIV/AIDS policy because foreigners in Korea are increasing, and for the health of foreigners themselves, there should be more AIDS testing centers.

In the course of examining the issue, foreign English teachers are mentioned in passing and distinguished from illegal workers, who unfortunately do not visit the one AIDS counseling center in Korea then available for foreigners. As the official at the Itaewon clinic was quoted as saying, “we have almost no illegal immigrant foreigners;” instead, as the official explains, the foreigners visiting the clinic are “mostly white collar foreigners, such as English teachers.”

From this offhand mention of English teachers and HIV tests the idea for a propaganda campaign against native English teachers is born.


43.
This next post on September 9, 2006 from the group’s spokesman mentions the DongA news article and provides a link to the news article on the internet. He includes two stories of Korea women who he says are now “trembling from the fear of AIDS after having sex with foreigner English teachers.”





44 -45.
The next two posts, which appear on the following day, also contain horror stories regarding foreigners and AIDS – one even featuring a terrifying “AIDS Mummy.”

The first slide contains a post by the Spokesman that claims to relate "the truth behind the rumors circulating around Itaewon regarding the 'AIDS horror story' . . . that infected foreigners are indiscriminately spreading the virus."   Shamefully, the Spokesman insinuates that "a foreign AIDS-infected peoples' organization" may be plotting to infect Koreans.   "It is not yet known," explains the post,  "whether a foreign AIDS-infected peoples’ organization is responsible for inciting these people, or whether it is the infected foreigners within Korea just working amongst themselves. The only truth known from the rumor is that these people are spreading AIDS in order make their existence known."

As a source for "the truth behind the rumors," the Spokesman cites "waiter A," a waiter in Itaewon.  The post goes on to cite an official at the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention, who the Spokesman claims said, “There is little probability that someone will be infected by AIDS as long as that person does not have sex with a foreigner." On the other hand, the post concludes with hysterical concern, "if the rumors are true, then Koreans who have had sexual contact with a foreigner will almost all contract AIDS.”

There we have it, the propaganda message has been clearly established: "Koreans who have had sexual contact with a foreigner will almost all contract AIDS.”



46.
By this post, on September 15, 2006, the group is in contact with news media. The Spokesman tells the group members to “Get ready to freely spread the resources and original materials. Low quality native speaker teachers and AIDS.” The message is clear. Plans for spreading a propaganda news story about foreign English teachers with HIV/AIDS transmitting it to Korean women were well under way.  As the Spokesman explains to the members, “Soon the AIDS native speaker teacher issue will take off.”


47.
Three days later the Breaknews article appears containing the message that E-2 visa holders should be tested for HIV/AIDS.


48.
On September 28, 2006, ten days after the Breaknews article comes out, the group uses quotes from the article in a petition to the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) asking for mandatory HIV tests for foreign English teachers on E-2 visas. In just over a year the MOJ will grant this group’s wish, and in doing so will use the very same media quotes and bogus statistics that the Anti-English hate group has made available through its propaganda.

As mentioned above, it’s rare to be able to see intentional discrimination so clearly laid out. But here we have an undisguised animus that seeks whatever means necessary to target foreign English teachers. The ‘foreigner AIDS scare’ meme was a readymade idea that this group appropriate for its own purposes.

   
49.
Struggling for a way to understand the disease when it first took hold in Korea, the common explanation became that HIV/AIDS was a result of foreign contagion and moral decay. In 1991 a public opinion survey found that 69% of Koreans believed that AIDS was associated with “corrupt sex lives.” (Segye Ilbo). In 1993, the response from Korean Anti-AIDS Federation (KAAF) (at the time the largest HIV/AIDS NGO in Korea) was to embark on its “Purity Campaign” with the objective of preventing HIV/AIDS, not by promoting condom use, which was not advocated by the group, but by “the enhancement of sense of morality of Korean nationals.” HIV/AIDS was understood as resulting from “sexual excess and foreign sexual contagion”. (See “Popularising purity: Gender, sexuality and nationalism in HIV/AIDS prevention in South Korean youths, Sealing Cheng (2005)).

As Professor Cheng explains: “Women, whose purity is essential to the family and moral social order, are concomitantly a source of real and uncontainable menace when they become sexually active as a result of changing social environment and foreign influences.” (Id.)

In Korea, “HIV/AIDS [has been used] as a metaphor for fears of women out-of-control at times of rapid social transformations, targeting women as objects of control.” (Id.)

As has been explained above, the Anti-English hate group’s first attempt was to control Korean women through shame and harassment. The next step was to try to control Korean women through fear and panic the public with rumors of AIDS horror stories, pictures like the “AIDS Mummy” and dubious statistics like those listed in the Breaknews article above.

The 1990s popularized the idea that “corrupt sex lives,” “sexual excess and foreign sexual contagion” were responsible for the AIDS epidemic. The accepted Korean response was “it is good to prevent AIDS with awareness of sexual chastity and proper and healthy sexual culture.” (2000-2001 KAAF Survey, 87% of respondents agreed with the statement.) Id. Thus, Koreans sought to explain rising AIDS rates in the population with a decline in morals, sexual chastity, and “healthy sexual culture.”

What the Anti-English hate group has done is to make use of this accepted “logic” and work it in reverse. That is, because the group perceives a decline in morals and sexual chastity among Korean women involved in the “corrupt sex lives” of foreign men, AIDS must be spreading among them. That’s why you will notice the group has no need of any public verifiable data on HIV infection rates among foreign English teachers. All that’s necessary to stigmatize foreign teachers as an AIDS threat is to provide evidence of a decline in morals and sexual chastity in Korean women and involvement “corrupt sex lives” of foreign men.

         
50.
As Professor Cheng points out: “Because HIV/AIDS is constructed as a moral and sexual onslaught against the Korean nation, the sexuality of Korean women becomes all the more a target of censure. Women’s embodiment of moral purity as national essence is designated by the masculine nationalist discourse and required by the patriarchal order”

It is telling that this group has chosen Nongae, a kisaeng, as a symbol of purity for Korean women. Her purity stems not from her chastity but from fact that her sexuality is exclusively available to Korean males. Nongae is placed just below the hwarang, the legitimate object of her sexual desire.

         
51.
The next major propaganda victory for the group came from the Chosun Ibo and Chosun Sports in May, 2007. The headline reads “white English teacher threatens Korean woman with AIDS.” Again the focus is on race and preventing interracial sex.

         
52.
The Chosun Sports ran the same article with the subtitle: “beware of the ugly white English teacher.” White English teachers are themselves something to “beware of,” interracial sex itself is a threat. Korean women must be stopped from willingly participating in sexual relations with foreigners.

Like other propaganda materials, the article contains no verified facts or data. What it does contain is an unverified e-mail allegedly written to a Korean woman by a foreign ex-boyfriend which the reader is expected to accept as genuine. It says that the foreign ex-boyfriend had unprotected sex with prostitutes and then had unprotected sex with his Korean girlfriend. Despite the alleged AIDS “threat,” the story does not involve any actual AIDS infections.

         
53.
Nearly 2 years later, in February 2009, the Anti-English group publicly takes credit for placing the AIDS propaganda stories in the Chosun Ilbo and Chosun Sports. We'll see this as a pattern. The Anti-English group works to develop ready-made stories for the press and public consumption that seek to implicate foreign English teachers in immoral or illegal activities.

         
54.
Spokesman Lee explains that he and his group have spent months tracking individual foreign English teachers who they suspect of illegal activities.

The Commission should be alerted to this group’s method of operation. Foreigners are stalked by the group and their home addresses are recorded. They are targeted, profiled and stigmatized on the basis of race and nationality.

This group conducts its own searches for illegal activities solely on the basis of the physical appearances of individuals, their race, their nationality, etc. This group is in the business of profiling foreign English teachers in order to expose them to greater suspicion.

         
55.
This Commission must be reminded that the activities of this hate group are precisely what general recommendation 30 and 31 warn state parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination to be on guard against.

         

         

         

         

         

         

56 – 61.
The targeting, stigmatization, and racial profiling that we see here, which expose these individuals to greater suspicion, are exactly what this organization is all about.

Yet instead of being condemned, this group has been praised for its activities. It has been given special access to the press; and, as will be discussed further below, the group has been invited to participate in governmental decision-making.

          
62.
And disturbingly, this group has been awarded by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Department for its activities in stalking foreign English teachers – and this will be further discussed below as well.

         
63.
At this point, what must be emphasized to this Commission is that this hate group has worked with the press, and with the government and within civil society to make sure that foreign English teachers are perceived as “guilty until proven innocent”.

As this poster makes clear in English – so that foreigners are sure to understand: "foreign teachers and professors be warned, you are watched".

This is the message that Korea has chosen to convey to foreign educators invited to this country. We are watching you, and if necessary you will be, as the poster explains, “prosecuted, blacklisted, and deported.” Phone numbers for the police and government Immigration and Education offices are provided.

         
64.
In this slide foreign teachers are warned by the government that they are living under an "intensive control period” for their "forced deportation" here in Korea. Native speakers, you are being watched. Again, phone numbers for government Immigration and Education offices are provided.

         
65.
Again we have active targeting and profiling designed to expose foreign English teachers to greater suspicion. In the lower right hand corner is an image that most have seen. These are the small A4 sized posters placed in subways and elsewhere alerting citizens to the presence of North Korean spies. Compare those small warnings with the enormous banners required to alert citizens of the presence of foreign English teachers performing “illegal extracurricular work” and one begins to understand the level of scrutiny these foreign teachers are under.

         
66.
This television program aired in 2005 shortly after the photographs of interracial couples appeared on the Internet and “Anti-English Spectrum” was formed.

This incredibly irresponsible program purports to be an investigative report of the illegal activities of foreign English teachers in Korea, yet even the title of the program sets out the racist agenda by calling the program a “situation report” on "blonde haired blue-eyed foreign instructors". It poses viewers with a loaded question by asking them if the sexual perversity these foreign instructors are allowed to enjoy with impunity makes the Republic of Korea their "heaven".

The group Anti-English Spectrum would later take credit for contributing to this program.

         
67.
The program profiles foreign English teachers as child molesters and sexual predators by beginning with a dramatization of a hypothetical scenario, which in fact had never occurred.

These shots dramatize a scene where a white foreign English teacher devises a method to be alone with a Korean child in order to sexually molest her. Korean viewers are invited to believe the incident has occurred, and will continue to occur, as long as foreigners are allowed to tutor young children in Korea.

The scene is not based on any actual occurrence, but rather was based on a comment left on an Internet site in English in July 2003, a year and a half before the program aired. The comment was translated at the Anti-English website and spread to the media.

         
68.
Real life film footage from the program shows interracial couples walking arm in arm in the streets of the Seoul as if such an occurrence was scandalous, something to be feared as dangerous and wrong.

And of course this is precisely the message the Anti-English hate group: interracial relationships are wrong. They are suspect, they are dangerous. Whether it ends in disease or abuse or rape, interracial relationships are something to be avoided at all costs. Such is the racist focus of the group.

         
69.
This newspaper article makes clear the SBS program had exactly its intended effect. The Korean public was thrown into a panic. The TV programs website recorded over 1000 furious posts.

It should be noted that this article in the English press which purports to neutrally report on the “Foreign Teacher Controversy” contains this gratuitous photograph of interracial couples walking arm in arm. The picture helps emphasize what the "controversy" is all about: interracial relationships. As a Korean woman married to a foreigner explains in the article, “Since the show aired on Saturday, I’ve been afraid to go out . . . It’s absolute nonsense that I should now look like a whore because I live with a foreigner.”

But this is precisely the goal of this group, to stigmatize Korean women who have any type of interracial relationships.

         
70.
The slide shows a few of the comments that were left on the SBS programs website, which are not particularly surprising considering the content of the program. Mothers terrified to send their children to school, citizens so enraged they can't sleep at night, others proposing to just go out and randomly attack foreigners.

The SBS broadcast was beyond irresponsible. The so-called “situation report” on "blonde haired blue-eyed foreign instructors" was simply propaganda designed to “justify and promote racial hatred and discrimination,” which is precisely what the Convention Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination prohibits in Korea.

Under this Convention, and under Korean law, it is the duty of the Korean government and this Commission to condemn such propaganda and “combat prejudices which lead to racial discrimination” by working with the media to help educate and create a more human rights friendly environment which promotes understanding, tolerance and friendship among nations and racial or ethnical groups.

         
71.
Unfortunately, the Anti-English hate group has been much more successful than the NHRCK in working with the media. First, the group was active in providing material for the program. The opening dramatization, for example, which shows a foreign English teacher devising a method to be alone with a Korean child in order to sexually molest her, was supplied by the Anti-English group. In January 2005, they revived a website post from July 2003, translated it into Korean, and distributed it through their website. The content of the post is very disturbing, but it should be recalled that it didn’t involve a real incident, and when it was originally posted in 2003 it was foreign English teachers living in Korea who immediately condemned it. It could hardly be called be a “situation report” indicative of foreign English teachers sexual perversity.

Of course the real reason this post was chosen was not because any concern over the safety of children, but because of the photographs of interracial couples that had come to the netizens attention on January 11, 2005. This was what provided the motivation to form the group on January 12. And it was the very next day, on January 13, that this post appeared on the website.

         
72.
Once the group had successfully got its message into the press, the group printed up flyers promoting the program. These posters promote racial hatred and intolerance and scold the public for being “much too generous and tolerant of blue-eyed foreigners…”

         
73.
The group then organized a campaign and took to the streets to spread its message of racial intolerance and to solicit membership. The result of the campaign damaged the lives not only of foreigners living in Korea, but also Koreans who had relationships with foreigners. As the Korean woman married to a foreigner explained in the Chosun article above: “I’ve been afraid to go out . . . It’s absolute nonsense that I should now look like a whore because I live with a foreigner.”

         
74.
Here is Spokesman Lee being interviewed in the Seoul Shimun in 2009. He explains that his group was responsible for supplying the SBS program with material in 2005.

So again, at the center of the media blitz promoting racial discrimination, we see the Anti-English hate group actively working to transfer the racist propaganda available on their website directly to the mainstream media.

The Anti-English group has an active working relationship with television, the print media, the police and, as we will see, with government policymakers.

The Seoul Shimun article displayed here begins with a quote by Mr. Lee which I have placed at the top of the slide. Mr. Lee explains that “carrying a gun into battle is not the only way to love one’s country.”

Of course, Mr. Lee is correct. On the battlefield, which his group staked out in its struggle against interracial mixing psychological propaganda operations are indeed just as important as physical attacks.

Propaganda is essential in making sure the enemy is dehumanized and despised.

         
75.
This next image seeks to explain to Koreans how the mind of foreign language teacher really works. Again, as we can see plainly depicted, the centermost concern of this group is interracial sex.

The Commission is warned that many of these images are vulgar and degrading.


76.
Of course, that is their purpose. They are intended to inflame racist sentiments

Condemning interracial sex is the motivating force for this group. The foreigners from the despised races must be prevented from having sexual relations with “our” Korean women.


77.
This is a classic propaganda effort with parallels in the Second World War.

In the picture in the upper left-hand corner a black man is shown about to penetrate a white German woman. The German text reads “firmly enters the foreign worker.”

In picture to the right of the foreign worker: Blacks and Jews, the members of the races despised by the Nazis, are shown fraternizing with the pure women of the homeland. These propaganda images were designed by the Nazis to inflame sentiments exactly like the propaganda showing white foreign English teachers and Korean women locked in sexual embrace.

In the bottom left-hand corner is piece of propaganda from Imperial Japan: a woman is pictured in the arms of a Jew. Here the Jew is called “that slick fellow, that slacker.” He is “The villain that is rich, handsome, well groomed and full of influence . . . He might be having your girl right now.” In addition to being considered over-privileged, Jews were also portrayed as morally corrupt with a propensity for sexual perversions and sex crimes. These are, of course, the same labels that have been applied foreigners in Korea.

In the picture to the right another Jew is pictured and also called "the slacker".

78.
The blond haired blue-eyed white foreign English teacher has been portrayed as the same type of sexually perverse, over-privileged slacker who takes advantage of Korea, and especially of Korean women. That “slick fellow” who “might be having your girl right now”.


79.
This type of propaganda showing foreign men violating Korean women is designed to be provocative, to encourage Koreans (pictured here in yellow as the “hwang-in”, the “winner”) to strike out against the dark figure of “the sexual molester foreign language teacher” as he is called in this picture.


80.
As we have seen, mass media has joined in the propaganda effort. This program shows pictures of interracial mixing with the warning “illegal foreign teachers are violating our Korean women!!!” The Anti-English group also contributed to this program. On their website they boast of their involvement and claim the program received the highest rating of any show on the network.


81.
Another program shows the same theme. The disco, the alcohol, drugs slipped into the beer bottle, and a sexual assault by a white foreign English teacher.


82.
Oddly enough, the Segye Ilbo credits this adult entertainment program with portraying “sexual-harassment by foreign teachers” calling it “an emerging social issue.”


83.
Newspaper articles that detail the deplorable morals of foreign English teachers and contain insinuations and unspecified allegations of sexual assaults are common. What is rare is any mention of actual cases of rapes and assault by foreign English teachers.

In fact, despite several years of heightened scrutiny and concern, no precise data has been collected on sexual assault by foreign English teachers. The graph presented here is over-inclusive, listing sex crimes from all visa types (not just English teachers) from the 7 English speaking countries. Yet despite being over-inclusive, the data shows sex crimes by Koreans at more than four times the rate of those from native English speaking countries.


84.
Here is another television show with the same message and the same formula. Like the Sexy-Mong program, there is the disco, the alcohol . . .




85-86.
. . . and the sexual assault by the foreign white English teacher. This time it's a gang rape.


87.
Again, this propaganda shows strong similarities with other types of propaganda.


88.
Despite the absence of data or specific cases, police departments have joined in supporting the media’s biased representation of foreign teachers. In one article, an official with the Foreign Affairs Division of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency explains that Korea is a “perverted paradise” because American and Canadian foreign English teachers find it easy to seduce Korean women and do drugs with them.”

In another article, a police official from Incheon explains that “sex crimes are committed by foreign English teachers, who are high on drugs”.

Foreign English teachers, sexual assaults, drugs. Exactly the same information being provided in the television shows. But no public verifiable data, no arrest statistics, no case mentioned, just more propaganda.

General Recommendation 31 of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination explains that the police authorities must be forbidden to “cast suspicion in advance on the members of a specific racial or ethnic group.” It explains that the police “have an obligation to ensure that the mass media do not disseminate information which might stigmatize certain categories of persons, particularly those belonging to non-citizen groups.” In addition to monitoring the media for representations of minorities, another major task of the NHRCK is to educate law enforcement officers in making certain that Korea’s human rights obligations are being fulfilled.

Unfortunately, as we’ve seen, the Anti-English group seems to have more influence with the police departments than the NHRCK.


89.
In receiving an award from the nation’s police department for its vigilante activities, the group has, in effect, been deputized to conduct its own private investigations of foreigners. As the group has explained in the media and on its website, it stalks foreigners, tracking their movements (sometimes for months at a time) and recording their places of residence.


90.
In addition to their unique role with the police department, the Anti-English group has been invited by the Ministry of Justice to help create national policy for foreigners residing in Korea.

This poster shows a very significant meeting that was held by the Ministry of Justice’s immigration foreigner policy team of the office on October 23, 2007.

This was the meeting that would create the E-2 visa policy memo which required the mandatory in country AIDS and drug tests for over 17,000 foreigners residing in Korea. This is the same policy that was created without any oversight and put into practice without passing any laws.

The bottom of this poster shows the list of participants of this very significant meeting. There are several important officials from the Ministry of Justice, the foreign-policy division of the Immigration Office, representatives from the Ministry of Education and Human Resources, and another representative from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. From private sector, the Director of Korea Association of Foreign Language Academies is also in attendance. And finally, Mr. Lee Eun Ung or Chairman Lee as he is referred to here.

It is very disturbing to see that a representative of a racist propaganda organization has been granted a seat at the table of government by the Ministry of Justice to help draft the new E-2 visa requirements.


91.

A posting made immediately after the MOJ E-2 visa policy meeting confirms that Spokesman Lee was in attendance. The posting also includes more detailed information on the MOJ's new plans for the introduction of the E-2 visa requirements.

92.
After making contact with the Anti-English hate group at this meeting, it’s not surprising to see the Ministry of Justice begin to express the same type of views on foreign English teachers. Here, just days after the meeting, the Ministry of Justice explains that strong measures are required to crack down on drug use and sexual offenses by foreign English teachers.

In a post on the Anti-English group’s website from July 2007, there is a mention of an earlier visit to the MOJ where the group emphasized to officials the need for medical checks for teachers. In a post made just after the October 23, 2007 E-2 visa policy meeting, it is again explained that the need for medical tests was emphasized to MOJ officials. The Anti-English group will soon have their way as the MOJ decides to incorporate these suggestions into its E-2 visa policy memo requiring in-country AIDS and drug tests.


93.
Here is the infamous policy memo, released in November, about a week after the E-2 visa policy meeting. This is the memo that puts in place the in-country medical procedures causing human rights violations for thousands of foreign residents.


94.
At this point, in late 2007, the Ministry of Justice becomes bolder with its rhetoric. The Ministry of Justice condemns foreign English teachers in the international media for “disrupting social order by taking drugs, committing sexual-harassment, and alcohol intoxication.”


95.
Here is a domestic media source. An official from the Ministry of Justice explains that drug use and criminal activities by foreign English teachers have risen to “dangerous levels.”

Again there is no public verifiable data provided, no arrest statistics, no cases mentioned. Just a firm conviction on the part of the Ministry of Justice that “dangerous levels” of drug abuse by foreign teachers have been reached.


96.
We know, however, that such statements do not accord with actual data provided by the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office.


97.
Turning back to the fateful policy meeting on October 23, 2007 for a moment; in the center of the page, the Ministry of Justice Foreigner Policy team makes a statement explaining why this meeting is taking place. There are a million foreigners in the country, it says, but there is no system in place to deal with them.


98.
The terrible irony is that the National Assembly had recently enacted the well-known and highly celebrated Act on the Treatment of Foreigners Residing in Korea, which was in full force at the time of this policy meeting. In the words of the ROK, this Act “establish[ed] . . . the Foreigner Policy Committee under the Prime Minister for deliberation and coordination of policies on foreigners.” The Act had gone into force in July and by October it was already forgotten; indeed, the ink is not even dry on the newly created Act on the Treatment of Foreigners in Korea when the MOJ is busy violating its provisions, as well as the Constitution.

In spite of the MOJ’s Foreigner Policy team’s statements, it was certainly not the case that no system existed to manage policies on foreigners. In fact, as the ROK has explained, “the Act provides a framework whereby related government agencies can more closely cooperate in the execution of policies on foreigners including those prohibiting discrimination.” Furthermore, article 4 of the Act requires that rules affecting the treatment of foreigners residing in Korea must conform to the purpose of the Act, which is “to help foreigners in Korea to adjust themselves to the Korean society to reach their full potentials and to create a society where Koreans and foreigners in Korea understand and respect each other”.

The MOJ’s Foreigner Policy team was well aware of the important legal obligations that the Republic of Korea had established for central and local governments but instead choose to disregard them. Rather than consulting the Basic Act on the Treatment of Foreigners, as was required by law, and coordinating with the Foreigner Policy Committee established under that Act, the MOJ’s Foreigner Policy team decided to consult with a racist hate group and implement its policies of stigmatization, and discrimination.


99.
The Basic Act and Foreigner Policy Committee are integral parts of the ROK’s ambitious 2007-2011 five-year “National Action Plan (NAP) for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights,” which is Korea’s “comprehensive nationwide master plan . . . present[ing] an overarching perspective for all human rights related laws, systems, and policies.”

The MOJ’s Foreigner Policy Division bears responsibly for being seriously negligent in disregarding national policies and embarrassing Korea on the world stage by undermining commitments that the national government was interested in promoting to the international community.

At the same time the MOJ’s Foreigner Policy Division was implementing extra-legal measures against foreigners by explaining that there was no system in place, the ROK was telling the international community about the new “Inter-Ministerial Committee on Policies Regarding Foreigners in Korea” and explaining how the new Act on the Treatment of Foreigners will contribute to “social integration through the promotion of mutual understanding and respect between foreigners and Korean nationals.”

In fact, the ROK has said a great deal about the new Act on the Treatment of Foreigners to the International Community. At home, unfortunately, the Act has been completely disregarded by government agencies such as the MOJ’s Foreigner Policy team, and what we’ve seen instead is a racist hate group stepping in to help draft rules for foreigners to abide by.









100-103.
The Chosun Ilbo published this article in July 2009. It was the first in a series of four articles published consecutively on June 30, June 31, July 1, July 2. (A fifth follow up article also appeared August 20, 2009). Four articles in four days, all on problematic foreign English teachers and the source for the material is again the Anti-English group.

Here we have to remember that the E-2 requirements were put in place in 2007 order to calm what the Ministry of Justice called “serious social outcry” created by news media coverage of unqualified foreign English teachers. The MOJ emphasized the supposed palliative role of the E-2 visa policy in its March 2007 press release, saying “thanks to measures introduced on native English teachers by the Ministry of Justice, the anxiety of citizens over ineligible foreign English teachers is expected to be alleviated.”

Yet as this series of articles (and many others that continue to be published) demonstrate, the E-2 visa policy has failed miserably at alleviating the anxiety of the public. In fact, media reports over unqualified foreign English teachers have only increased since the E-2 policy has gone into effect. But this is only to be expected when you have a group with over 17,000 members committed to stigmatizing foreign English teachers in Korean society.

Given the Anti-English group’s unique access to the press it is not surprising to learn that the material for this series of four articles in four days was provided by the group, as the author herself explains. So once again, behind the flurry of press reports of problematic foreign English teachers and the so-called “social outcry” we see the Anti-English group in the trenches working hard to transfer their message of racial hatred and discrimination from their website to the mainstream media.

And like the Anti-English group’s website, in news reports such as these we see an emphasis on the condemnation of interracial sex, unsubstantiated rumor, and dubious use of statistics. In fact, statistics that are downright inaccurate often appear in media reports.


104.
Take, for example, the statistics shown in this article. You notice that both graphs purport to show the total number of E-2 visa holders in Korea through September 2008. But there is a difference of approximately 13,000 between the two of them.

The graph on the right is a correction; the total number of E2 visa holders has never exceeded 20,000.

The JoongAng Ilbo was good enough to correct its mistake when it realized it had used the wrong number. The immigration figure that it had originally cited was the number of times that E2 visa holders had entered and exited the country. In other words the counts of 30,000 and more visa holders are double counts of individual visa holders coming in and out of the country, not the total number of E-2 visa holder, which has never exceeded 20,000.


105.
But you see these type of incorrect statistics used all the time. Here is a pointy nose blonde haired blue-eyed foreigner holding up a chart that says there are nearly 35,000 E2 visa holders in Korea. One hopes that instead of being a racially derogatory caricature perhaps the effect of his having to hold up these lying statistics has made his nose grow like Pinocchio.

But this is what foreigners have come to expect from the Korean media. The racially derogatory caricatures, the inaccurate statistics, the race baiting language -- this article begins by asking: “if you're white [in Korea], is it ‘anything goes’?”


106.
When the Anti-English group, the media and government are all on the same page – often the wrong page – inaccurate statistics like those cited earlier can be very damaging to foreigners. Here's an article explaining that National Assembly Person Choi Young-Hee suggests that urgent measures are required to manage E-2 visa holders.

The article explains why. It seems that of the nearly “39,000” [sic] E-2 visa holders, 22,000 are unaccounted for. No wonder urgent measures are called for, the government has lost 22,000 E-2 visa foreign English teachers somewhere within the borders of the Republic of Korea.

Of course we realize that the same error has been made yet again. There are no missing E-2 visa holders, nor have the numbers ever been anywhere near 39,000.

But instead of working to correct inaccuracies such as this, lawmakers have been happy to cite bad statistics and are pushing ahead with even more restrictive measures for foreign English teachers.

In fact Rep. Choi has recently introduced 3 new bills designed to further regulate foreign English teachers. These bills seek to revise laws to require even more extensive drug testing for foreign English teachers.

When it comes to foreign English teachers it seems that no measures are restrictive enough.

A good example is a recent complaint brought before this Commission by a foreign English teacher who works for the Ulsan Office of Education. This particular provincial education office has decided to require its foreign workers to take additional AIDS and drugs tests beyond those required by the national government, despite the fact that no law exists granting them the power to make such a demand.

We are only one year into the E-2 visa policy and the intensely restrictive requirements just put in place are already seen as unsatisfactory. The call is now for more AIDS tests, more drug tests.

No amount of regulation is satisfactory it seems when it comes to foreign English teachers.

This makes sense if we consider the active lobby by Anti-English Spectrum constantly pushing for more discriminatory measures against foreign English teachers.


107.
Here is another article from by Spokesman Lee, showing the Anti-English group in lockstep with Representative Choi. The article alerts readers to the new bills being prepared by Rep. Choi.

These bills would not be formally announced for nearly four months, but the group apparently has advanced notice.


108.
It seems the group is well acquainted with Rep. Choi. A posting on the group’s website relates a private meeting that Lee had with Rep. Choi’s office in January, month before the bills are announced.


109.
While Anti-English Spectrum and its representatives are well connected with the media, the police, and the Ministry of Justice and have succeeded in advancing their agenda, the extent of their influence with the National Assembly is not well known.

On its website, the group claims to have contacted National Assembly lawmakers “countless times” and to have met with them on at least seven occasions. They also claim to have provided information and reports to other many other government officials and agencies.

There is some evidence to support the group’s claims that information flows between them and the National Assembly.

This familiar quote from the 2006 Breaknews article, for example, which explains that in 2005 foreign English teachers accounted for 80% of those seeking voluntary AIDS tests.


110.
The same quote shows up in an interview with Spokesman Lee in early February 2009, where he explains that that in 2007, 80% of those seeking voluntary AIDS tests at the Itaewon AIDS Counseling Center were foreign English teachers.


111.
And in a second article in February 2009, Spokesman Lee has again recycled this figure reemphasizing that in 2007, 80% of those seeking voluntary AIDS tests at the Itaewon AIDS Counseling Center were foreign English teachers. This time adding that the 80% seems to include some “white collar workers”.

Lee seems fixated upon this 80% figure as some sort of shocking revelation of English teachers’ dangerousness to Korean public health. Of course nothing could be further from the truth, in fact encouraging foreigners and Koreans to come in to receive voluntary AIDS tests was precisely the reason that the Korean UNAIDS Information Support Center (한국 UNAIDS 정보센터) first opened its offices in Itaewon in 2003.

It seems as if Lee would be pleased if foreigners were totally unconcerned about their HIV status and had no interest in visiting clinics for voluntary testing. Rather than an 80% number, Lee is hoping for 0%. That’s what Korea needs in his estimation, no one visiting HIV testing centers at all – total indifference to one’s HIV status.

This of course is the underlying message to his fellow Koreans: don't be like these foreigners, don't go in to do voluntary HIV testing. For one to be at all concerned about one’s HIV status indicates moral depravity and dangerousness.

But contrast that perspective with the wisdom of Judge Yu Seong-Jeong of the Seoul High Court, who explains that “the most dangerous thing for society is not persons who are infected with HIV and aware of their status, but persons who are infected with the disease and unaware of their status. A person who is aware of infection will be less likely spread the disease. On the other hand, a person who is unaware of infection is more likely to spread the disease. In the final analysis, encouraging the public to voluntarily receive HIV testing by protecting the human rights of people living with HIV/AIDS is the most effective policy for preventing the spread of the disease.” (Heo case, 2009).

Thus, in addition to acting as spokesman for a racist organization, Lee actively works against efforts to fight the AIDS virus here in Korea by publicly campaigning against voluntary HIV testing. And keep in mind this is a man who has the ear of lawmakers, who has been given a seat at the table of government by the MOJ when it comes to making policy decisions here in Korea.


112.
In examining the extent of the group’s influence with the National Assembly it is instructive if we look here at the progress of Bill 3356. In the yellow oval, we can see a contribution made by the Legislative and Judiciary Committee on February 24, 2009.


113.
The purpose statement of the Bill shows it to be an extremely xenophobic piece of proposed legislation. It explains that “nowadays a good many foreigners coming to Korea have previous convictions for drugs sexual crimes or carry infectious diseases.”

One may wonder if any evidence has been provided to substantiate this claim; and, in fact, there has been...


114.
The language in this footnote from the Legislative and Judiciary Committee is recognizable enough; it contains Spokesman Lee’s statistics.

In 2007, it says, 80% of foreigners seeking voluntary AIDS tests at the Itaewon AIDS Counseling Center were foreign English teachers.


115.
Mr. Lee’s quote is certainly similar.


116.
The quotes are disturbingly similar, nearly identical.


117.
But even more disturbing, the statistics are inaccurate, and inaccurate in exactly the same way indicating that Legislative and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly and a racist propaganda organization are sharing notes.

First, there was no Itaewon AIDS Counseling Center in 2007.

The Itaewon AIDS Counseling Center was opened from 2003 until October 2006. It ceased operations in 2006. Because of discriminatory views on HIV/AIDS and the stigma of the disease, neighbors pressured the Itaewon AIDS Counseling Center to change locations after just three years of operation.

In 2007, the center was relocated in Seong-buk-dong near Sungshin Women’s University.


118.
Here we see a brochure for the center showing its Seoul location in Seong-buk, not Itaewon, and its second location in Ansan.


119.
Not only is the Anti-English group wrong about the location of the clinic. It’s also wrong about the statistics from 2007.

Here are the actual statistics released by the counseling center in 2007 in their official report. There’s the pie chart at the bottom of the page. According to the center, all of the visitors listed here are foreign.


120.
You can see the section in purple, which indicates “teachers”.  After consulting with the center, they have confirmed that the “teachers” here listed are the foreign instructors – the 외국인 강사 – of interest to Spokesman Lee and the Anti-English Group. Yet as we can see here, the number is not 80% in 2007, but 54%.

So where does that 80% figure come from?


121.
Again it is clear enough that the numbers have simply been recycled from the 2006 Breaknews article. Such ignorance and xenophobia is hardly surprising considering the propaganda coming out of the Anti-English Group, but from the National Assembly the use of such bogus statistics is unexpected.

Incidentally, the second quote about “60 countries conducting AIDS test on foreigners according to visa type” is also incorrect. In fact, the Director of Korean Alliance to Defeat AIDS, the very AIDS Center cited as the source for the 60 country quote, denies that these statistics were provided by their institution.

Of course it’s disappointing to see lies put forward as truths, but again one expects it coming from a racist propaganda organization like the Anti-English hate group.


122.
But it is extremely disappointing to see the National Assembly feeding off of such inaccurate and misguided views. Here we see the process of xenophobia and racial discrimination being transformed into law in the Republic of Korea.



123-124.
We’ve seen how the process begins. Stories and images move from the Internet into the media.


125.
The media, in turn, gets citied by government officials as a reason for introducing discriminatory measures. The authors of the E-2 visa policy memo, for example, specifically list the “[s]erious social outcry” created by “[n]ews media coverage about those unqualified E2 teaching visa holders” as a reason for introducing the requirements.


126.
Discriminatory policy then finds its way into law.


127.
We see the same process beginning again with new bills introduced by Rep. Choi, and just as in the case of the E-2 visa inaccurate statistics have been used to support discriminatory legislation. And also just like the E-2 visa policy, behind the legislation we see the Anti-English hate group lobbying effort.


128.
This slide shows the intensive efforts of the Anti-English group. This list posted on the group’s website advertises the “achievements our café has accumulated . . . for those who are first visiting.” (A complete English translation is available here.)

Examining the list of “achievements” it becomes clear that, ever since the hate group was forged in a collective rage over photographs of foreign men with Korean women four and a half years ago, they have been driving an unrelenting media blitz against non-Korean foreign teachers. Indeed, the hate group has been behind nearly every negative media report on foreign teachers for the past four and a half years.

But the group’s “achievements” don’t stop with media reports. The list also goes on to detail numerous activities that shows the group exercising the government’s police powers.

In the group’s own words:

“Collected information and exposed illegal native English teachers and reported them to related institutes.”

“Cooperated with related organizations to track, conduct stakeouts on and report numerous low-quality teachers with forged academic credentials, and successfully made disclosures and arrests.”

“Collected information regarding low-quality drug-using foreign English teachers and tracked down their dwellings.”

“Tracked down people for 100 days in cooperation with relevant agencies, and also conducted a 17-day stakeout”

“Together with Gyunggi Provincial Police Agency , captured 3 native speaker teachers”

“Tracked down an unqualified teacher with an STD”

“Booked 10 people including teachers"

“Received award for contributing immensely to police operations.”

The group also engages in extensive public campaigns promoting its agenda as well as petition drives and the submission of “in-depth reports on . . . low-quality native English teachers” to National Assembly members, the MOJ, the immigration office, Supreme Prosecutor’s Office, the Education Ministry, the Information and Communications Ministry, the Ethics Committee, National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee and “policy commissioners at Education Offices all over the country.”


129.
Here is the group’s most recent petition drive from July 2009. In this post the 17,000 members are given step-by-step instructions in filling out government petition forms. They are urged to formally petition the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Education by using convenient internet petition forms available at “epeople.go.kr”. A model form is provided with suggested content for the petition, however this post suggests that members make their own additions to make sure it has a greater effect by looking like it represents a diverse body of opinions.

The model petition says that the media stories make it clear there is a problem with managing foreign English teachers. Therefore, it continues, the government should take urgent measures.

Significantly, the petition explains that while foreign English teachers may be “professionally qualified” to work as teachers they are “morally unfit”.

This marks a shift in strategy. The anti-English group has participated in many petition drives. Previously, however, the focus was on an alleged lack of professional qualifications of native speakers – and the government and media followed suit by profiling foreign English teachers as professionally “unqualified”.


130.
In 2005, for example, with a big-nosed foreigner holding a sign saying “unqualified” and inviting other big-nosed “unqualified” foreigners to Korea.


131.
In 2006, the blonde-haired blue-eyed foreign English teacher leaning on a lectern, which reads “unqualified”.


132.
In 2007, a National Assembly representative explains that 32% of foreign English teachers are “unqualified” because they don’t have CELTA certificates.

In 2008, an Education Ministry official explaining that nearly 50% are “unqualified” because they don’t have TESOL certificates, or degrees in English or Education.

If indeed all of these were all actual requirements then we are already at 80% “unqualified”. None of these, however, have ever been official requirements for the E-2 visas. A degree from a four year university in any major is all that is officially required. Nevertheless, the market has been sensitive to a demand for increased qualifications and foreign English teachers with enhanced professional qualifications in the form of degrees and certificates have stepped in to fill that demand.


133.
Now it seems that regardless of professional qualifications, the Anti-English group has decided that foreigners are “morally unfit” to teach.

This is a shrewd move on the part of this group. After all, professional qualifications can readily be identified and satisfied by foreigners; “moral qualifications,” on the other hand, will be unattainable.

In a recent interview Spokesman Lee explained that “[t]he majority of foreigners are acting innocent or indifferent about their indecent behaviors which don't follow the Korean moral code [because] their behaviors are not problems in their motherlands[.]”

In other words, simply being foreign makes it nearly impossible to behave morally in Korea. With the majority of foreigners indifferent to morality or unable to even comprehend when they are behaving indecently, the group’s spokesman reaffirms the point that discriminatory measures are justified.

This petition therefore insists that the government take “urgent measures” to further regulate foreigner English teachers. However, since no amount of regulations will succeed in transforming foreigners into Koreans capable of living by Korea’s moral code, foreigners can only expect the discriminatory treatment to increase.

This attempt to justify discriminatory measures by stigmatizing foreigners as “morally unfit” and unable to change their nature is within scope of Article 4 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination, which obliges all state parties to “condemn all propaganda and organizations which attempt to justify or promote racial hatred and discrimination in any form.”