South Korea has had an increasing anti-American element after an American army truck struck and killed two Korean teenagers last June. South Koreans have also demonstrated against the United States' presence in Iraq and in South Korea.
Sellers told his brothers April 14 that the mugging was the last straw and that he had bought a plane ticket to come home permanently on Saturday, April 19.
But the morning of April 19, he was picked up by police for climbing into the back seat of someone's car. Details about why Sellers was in the car, whose car it was and why police took him into custody have remained unclear because the police officer at the scene has been on vacation since the incident. But Sellers' brother, Oliver Sellers, said he wonders if his brother was being chased or threatened.
Police kept Sellers in their custody for the day, telling the embassy that they had a homeless, mentally ill man in their care. The embassy told the police to take him to the hospital or let him go. Police then took him to the hospital, where hospital workers sedated and restrained him.
Early Sunday hospital staff noted that Sellers' breathing was fast and his pulse was racing. He was sent to a different hospital for blood tests. He died en route to the second hospital.
The Joongang Ilbo ran a long story online on May 24, 2003, that reported Sellers was taken to a number of mental hospitals after climbing into the back of a stranger's car. An excerpt:
It was about 1:45 p.m on April 19, when Mr. Sellers arrived at Eunpyeong hospital. Park Jong-ik, the psychiatrist in charge of Mr. Sellers at the hospital, says, “Mr. Sellers did not have any external injuries. His death seems to have nothing to do with such a thing as anti-American sentiment.” After being injected with sedatives, Mr. Sellers reportedly was tranquilized. Mr. Robinson says that another friend who saw Mr. Sellers lying on the bed in the hospital said that he was sleeping and looked all right.
The next day, at approximately 3 p.m., Dr. Park noticed that Mr. Sellers’s condition was turning unstable. “Mr. Sellers’ vital signs started to dip ― it was something other than a psychiatric symptom. Mr. Sellers started to complain of a breathing problem. We needed to run tests to determine what was happening, which was not possible at this hospital because it specializes in mental problems.” About 5 p.m., Dr. Park transferred Mr. Sellers to Kangbuk Samsung Medical Center, a general hospital in central Seoul. While he was en route to that hospital in an ambulance, at about 5:20 p.m. on April 20, Mr. Sellers’s heart stopped beating.
An autopsy was performed April 22 by the National Institute of Scientific Investigation, and though the final results have not officially been released, it’s known that the cause of death is listed as “unknown.” Choi Yeong-geun, a detective in charge at the Gangnam precinct, says, “One thing’s for sure: He did not have a traumatic injury. The lack of an external wound is a sign that there is no suspicion of murder, which brings the case to the end, when confirmed.”
Ms. Love received word from the U.S. Embassy that her brother was given an injection of a mixture of Valium and Haldol against his will at Eunpyeong hospital. Valium is used to treat mildly anxious patients, as well as to help control epilepsy and alcohol addiction. Haldol, or haloperidol, is a prescription medicine indicated for use in management of psychotic disorders. A spokeswoman at the U.S. Embassy says, “We’ve got preliminary reports of the autopsy, and we’re still working on the case.”
A subsequent Birmingham News article notes that then-Secretary of State Colin Powell was looking into the case, and a May 18, 2003, article summarizes the events of April 19. An excerpt:
Saying he was mentally ill and homeless, the police took him to a psychiatric hospital, where he was restrained and sedated using anti-psychotic drugs. The hospital noted traces of marijuana in a urine sample. The next day, according to hospital records, Sellers had rapid breathing and pulse. En route to another hospital in an ambulance, he died.
On January 25, 2004, someone identifying themselves as Matthew's sister made a comment on the now-defunct War Liberal blog. Here is an excerpt of the update she gave:
My name is Lee Love; I am one of Matthew Sellers' sisters. Please know our family has not stopped seeking answers about our brother's death. I can update a couple of facts-the Institute for Scientific Investigation S. Korea has refused to issue any further details about Matthew's death. We were always told there would be a "final" autopsy pending further tests, now through the US State Department we are told they have been notified we are to consider the initial "preliminary" autopsy final. Cause of death remains unknown. The Koreans did not send his vital organs home for a detailed secondary autopsy. We would like to know what they did with them. Also to clear up the speculation about drugs or alcohol, Matt was found to have a "scant amount of marijuana in his urine" nothing else. No alcohol, cocaine, amphetamines or anything of the like. All the self-inflicted death speculation should stop. He did not cause his own death, the end. I want to tell you there is tangible concern Matthew's death has been downplayed to the point of cover-up by the US and the Koreans.
Our family was required to send $6,000.00 in order for Matthew's body to be sent home for burial, we were informed he would not be released until certain other bills were cleared up. Matthew had some money left in Seoul; here is how the US Embassy decided to disburse it. Matthew?s money paid the costs incurred by the "hospital" that killed him, the transport that took him to Samsung Hospital where they have real doctors, the storage charges for his body ($100.00 a day until the Korean Medical Examiner could perform an autopsy) and the autopsy itself. About that autopsy -- the Koreans insisted it must be performed in accordance with their law when a person dies while arrested and of no apparent reason ? even without family consent or notification. There were other incidentals which Matthew's money was used for. Over $1,200.00 was charged to send Matt's belongings gathered from his apartment by friends, this amounted to a large box and another box with very few contents.
Our State Department is not forthcoming with any information about an investigation into Matthew's death. My brothers have requested a meeting with Alabama Senator Richard Shelby sometime during the month January or February 2004. We want to lay out the facts we have gathered aspect by aspect. Evidence dictates clearly someone knows what happened to Matthew but no one wants to be accountable. The Korean Police say they turned everything over to the US Embassy, the US Embassy say the police are not cooperating -- which one is lying? The Embassy refused to help Matthew when they were called upon repeatedly - by the police, Matt?s friends and Matthew himself.
There's a lot of reading to do on the case (in particular the original Dave's thread and this collection of newspaper articles), and I haven't yet come close to making it through all of it. And there must be more news out there since that January, 2004 update.
Anyway I've posted all of this because, actually, the name Matthew Sellers did look familiar and I knew I had seen it somewhere recently. So I revisited the initial Korea Times article on Bill Kapoun:
Matthew Sellar, a part-time teacher at an elementary school in Seoul, said that the terrible situation could happen to other foreigners as well. ``The fact that William was uninsured is indicative of the larger issue that many foreign English teachers do not have insurance,’’ he said. ``I wish it was easier for foreigners to report illegal activities without fear of being fired, deported, or arrested. I love Korea. I love teaching my students.’’
The name is a little different, but it's almost, kind of, a strange coincidence connecting these two suspicious deaths of Americans in South Korea. Let's hope that, after all of the fundraisers have stopped and the sense of urgency has waned, that the foreign "community" down here again unites to push for a complete investigation of the fire that killed Kapoun and his girlfriend.
13 comments:
Sadly, there is no "foreign community" here -- nothing but an atomized set of islands, and a few bridges connecting randomly. The lifers have sorted stuff out to their satisfaction, and most of the rest are too transitory to care.
And besides, the "fire investigation" would in all likelihood be sidetracked by an envelope of cash from whomever has the most to lose.
The manager of the housing block I live in, on-campus, has thrice promised to perform tests on the on-campus foreign residence building's smoke and fire-detectors, which are ancient and probably haven't been tested in a decade or more. Everytime he's promised it, he's had that f*ck-you smile on his face that tells me it won't actually get checked.
I'm buying a smoke alarm tomorrow.
As for the other mysterious circumstances, the Matthew Sellers case is very weird. It makes one wonder whether he was given some kind of psychoactive medication at some point, and maybe at multiple points. It wouldn't be the first time someone was claimed to be mentally ill and hospitalized wrongly: the same happened to a Nepali woman whom the police, in their infinite "wisdom," deemed to be a crazy Korean woman who was lying about being Nepali. (There was a short film about her in the first If You Were Me collection, if you haven't seen it.
But yeah, while police treatment of foreigners sucks in general, I have to add that police treatment of Koreans sucks too. It's not primarily a racism issue; it's an issue of general inepitude and desperate need for reform.
Also, I'm kind of weirded out by all the Sellar/Seller/Sellers in this article. No relation as far as I know, but... well, somewhere way back...
Yeah, always unsettling to hear about foreigners who die under suspicious circumstances. Seems like they are easily forgotten, too. I only recently came across the story of the University of Pittsburgh student who was murdered in Itaewon, but I haven't had time to sift through that long profile on the Court TV site. And a little while ago I heard about a foreigner who was murdered in Suncheon ten years ago, but since it wasn't in the papers and since there is such high turnover among both Koreans and foreigners here, doesn't look like I'll ever get to the bottom of it.
I've read on Dave's about people in uni dorms with chains on the emergency exits in order to enforce the curfew. Does that exist where you are? It's always . . . presumptuous, I guess, and insensitive to assign significance to somebody's death, but I remember with Bill Kapoun how everyone said this ought to make everyone rethink fire safety around here . . . haven't heard a peep about that story in a while. Likewise the issue of traffic safety is one that is pretty much forgotten pretty much all the time.
I don't have any idea how any of this will work, so I'm just kind of talking out my backside, but if possible I'd like somebody (Embassy, maybe) to put pressure on the police to actually do an investigation of the boy who died in Daegu a few days ago. I mean, foreigners die and we get the excuse that, in order to release the body, the investigation must be stopped. I surely hope that if I ever meet my end in Korea that my family would at least get an explanation of what happened. Remarkable that a country ranked, what, 8th in the world economically and that aspires to be a major world power still has this kind of half-assed detective work going on.
You're in an interesting position in that your students seem quite educated and well-spoken, and it seems you have some insight into what (relatively) worldly Korean young people are talking about. It'd be a nice change of pace to have a TALK about current events that doesn't turn into a trial or a dissertation defense.
"I've read on Dave's about people in uni dorms with chains on the emergency exits in order to enforce the curfew. Does that exist where you are? "
It was true while I was in Korea. I taught at two universities in Seoul, and both chain-locked the doors at night.
With hesitancy, I can tell you, that for all the love and goodness that is in South Korea, I must "watch my back", and mostly because of a possibly harmless threat. Nevertheless, a man tried to engage conversation with me, and as I tried to understood what I thought he said, I asked him "What?". The answer he gave me was straight forward, "You will die." At that, I went a bit forward and informed him that we would all die at sometime or another, and it shouldn't be any concern to him. This happened as I was drying at the sauna and everything had been normal. So, out of the blue, someone can threaten your life, and leave you wandering if you should look behind you as you walk down a darkened street. The city was not Seoul, and the incident would have left my mind if it were not for the matter of fact way that he had said it, and how I felt he was watching me as I dressed and he stood in the mirror combing his hair, and leisurely drying. In any case, I think people should be real and take it all very serious. If you feel threatened, by all means, watch your back, and look out for your friends. If you drink and club late into the night, be sure you are not making any enemies along the way. We never know who we can offend by the least poorly thought out remark or action. I have felt the disdain of Koreans. I have a friend that says none of this ever happens in her life. But then, I am single, walk around a lot, explore everywhere, am outgoing and try to be kind to everyone. You will encounter negativity if you put yourself out in the public long enough. It ranges from overt hostility to subtle comments. One common comment, usually not meant to cause harm is "Don't you speak Korean?. It's rather difficult to learn Korean in a few months, and if you come here to teach English, you are not generally expected to know Korean. The attitudes extend from the families into the school system, where kids refuse to speak English, and profess to dislike it, though the government has mandated that they learn it and take small test to show their levels. One Korean school teacher greeted me at her husbands shop with, "What do you want? As I discovered she was an English teacher, I did not think much about it, until months later when I worked with her, and ran into conflict with her. Then I thought to myself, "Here is a person who teaches children how to say, --Hello, How are you. It's nice to meet you.---but, all she could say was "What do you want?. It doesn't help that the attitude against English is held by English teachers in the classroom, who shout at students in Korean and translate every word when you are trying to immerse the students in total physical response activities, or worse, they do nothing but stand at the back of the class watching you in silence or working on a computer or reading a book, or even as one teacher did recently, go to sleep, something they punish the students for doing. O.K> Long winded, but the anti-American sentiment is real, and so is the pro Adidas, Bob Marley, and Nike sentiment, though today, I explained who Bob Marley was to a teenager wearing his shirt, absent the name. I once explained who James Brown is, as a shirt that says Love, Peace, Justice James Brown caught my eye, but the wearer had no clue who James Brown might be. So we are in an area that is very grey, absence of cultural knowledge, desire for all things good, often perceived as American, and a resentment towards Americans for "imposing" English on the country, despite the fact that most computer programs operate on Roman based languages, and that a great deal of business and diplomatic negotiations is done in English. (Hope I said that right) Oh well. There is a lot of goodness here, but also, a lot of misunderstanding, and yes, a few angry people, as there will be anywhere. I do think the anti-American sentiment is real.
I appreciate the commentary from other posters and the condensed version of this story. I don't think I know enough about the case to blame Korean police or hospitals. Based on other stories I've read (and experiences I've had) the police need to improve. I guess they're just not used to dealing with big-city crime or emergencies. As an example - look at the country's lack of emergency planning and resources when the gate burned.
I've not had any problems speaking English in Seoul. It seems to me that most people are happy for the chance to practice. Sometimes kids on the street try to say "hello" also. I have sensed an anti-American sentiment, though, especially compared to my last stay here in 2001. I don't understand why Americans should be blamed for the fact that English is the international language for business.
If someone doesn't understand English, I simply do not speak. In fact, I usually do not speak unless the person initiates in English. If the person speaks Korean, then I just don't respond.
It sounds like actually *living* in a Korean community is challenging for expats.
Seoul in my opinion is a completely different environment. I am in Daecheon or Boryeong, and I invite everybody down for the mud festival, and anyone can skype me at 1-505-349-8211, and you can crash at my apartment if hotels are full, especially if you are just looking for the fun, granted a hotel might be more fun. Boryeong is quite loveable and I've met many interesting people here, but most people don't speak English and English teachers have a difficult time communicating, (KOREAN ENGLISH TEACHERS), but my kids love me, and I have learned a lot. I suspect some resentment comes from prior bad experiences, perhaps from school, and many people have had negative experiences with English, as some folks think you can make a parakeet talk if you just keep shouting at it, but alas, we know differently. Love and joy is all we have, and thankfully the kids remind me of this when the adults can't remeber. Be well, and all who have lost a loved one, remember, we are all here for each other, beyond personal religion, ideology, or dogma, be it what it may. May yo all have a great summer. If you are a wild bunch, you are welcome to crash at my place in Daecheon when you come down for the festival. I basically, unlike many others, have a run down, trashy low rent, apt, near the bus station, 3 km from the beach. Jeffrey PS I can tolerate anything except abusiveness, but very happy to meet you.
Thanks for your comments, Jeffrey, you seem like a great guy. If I were going to the festival I'd take you up on it. I'd like to get to that area eventually. Anyway, thanks again, enjoy yourself, and stay safe.
Brian,
Just catching up.
Yeah, I don't think they chain the dorm on my campus, though they do lock it so people outside cannot get in after closing time. No idea when that is, but you sometimes see people running to make it. (Might be 11pm, maybe midnight, I'm not sure.)
All kinds of other buildings are chained, at least all exits except the main exits. That's actually new, but it may be this was an old practice that was re-adopted due to new security concerns. (Department offices in my building also got new cardlocks and so on a month or two ago.)
I suppose the real issue is that no dorms have burnt down. A few prostitutes dying because of being chained inside a brothel (was that 2002? 2003?) didn't catch people's attention so much, but a dorm full of students, that might actually wake people up. Sad.
And yeah, I am lucky in having students who are relatively worldly and talk about interesting issues. Of course, departmental restructuring of courses offered has made this increasingly less the case, at least in classes where such discussions happened: the old "conversation classes," of which I normally had one a semester, and which many students saved for junior or senior year, are now "listening & speaking" classes for sophomores. I still get to discuss stuff like the importance of considering social class when studying multicultural literature or chat about gender roles and character archetypes in popular culture, but there's less room for the free discussion that the juniors and seniors were really ready to get into. Ah well...
Just a note that in our live podcast with Stephanie White (seoulpodcast.com) on Sunday, Feb. 1st at 4 p.m., we're also planning to have Matthew Seller's sister.
I was at Soonchunhyang University in 2002-2003 and they chained the emergency exits there too. Of course, being uncooperative with curfews and being trapped in a potential firebox, I picked the padlock and simply used a dot of glue to hold the lock together so it looked locked. Sometimes, you have to take your own safety in your hands. Buy your own smoke detectors, etc. That fire-exit locking business is a major, major tragedy waiting to happen. Perhaps they should do what they do everywhere else in the industrialized world and simply put an alarm on the door. That deters unauthorized "escape" but still allows for safety. Of course, the real concern about which me must worry is that of fan death. Locked fire exits are ok, but God save us if we run a fan at night!
Thanks for stopping by. This fire exit chaining business is something that needs more attention. WHat kind of idiot (don't answer that) chains the goddamn exits shut?
Unrelated, but I don't get why people agree to the curfews imposed on teachers at some universities.
I was living in a Korean dorm at the school and the ten other foreigners living there were up in arms about being treated like children with a 12am curfew. We finally got them to move it to 1am after a meeting with the school president, but the reason for the curfew and the locked doors was, "to reassure the parents that there students are 'safe' and not getting into trouble when they should be sleeping." That's a quote from our liaison faculty member. I was shocked because many of the students in my dorm had already completed their Army service. Mature enough to shoot at the North, not to be trusted in a college dorm? The tragic, mysterious deaths your post discussed are sad, but what's even more frightening is the very real potential for a major massacre at a Korean university dorm if a fire were to happen. The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in NYC in 1911 is a great warning to what could happen any day in Korea. Here's a link about that fire: http://americanhistory.si.edu/sweatshops/history/trifire.htm.
Keep up the great work Brian!
I'm Bill Kapoun's mom. We had to sign away all rights for the arson investigation to continue - or the Korean Police would not release Billy's body to us. We were also forced to have his remains cremated. The Embassy was of no help to us. We begged for translation help during Billy's two-week long agonizing death. On the day before he died, they called and offered us Opera tickets - said we needed a break from the hospital vigil. No US press coverage, just grass-roots help with fundraising. People all over the world were compassionate and generous.
What Korean press coverage we had centered around the shady insurance situation - nothing on the circumstances of the mysterious fire, or the involvement of Sejin, Billy's fiancee. We would love to have answers - but HOW?
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