Friday, July 3, 2009

The fourth installment from Choi Hui-seon in the Chosun Ilbo.



The fourth article in four days from "intern" Choi Hui-seon is atop the Chosun Ilbo homepage tonight, this one looking at "unqualified" native speaker English teachers.

* Update: Translated by Korea Beat.

7 comments:

ZenKimchi said...

Man, the Chosun Ilbo must have a great internship program.

nb said...

When is some media outlet going to do a piece on unqualified reporters?

Anonymous said...

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea is deciding right now whether they should issue a statement on the continued profiling of foreign English teachers.

According to the Korean government:

"Human rights education for ... media
constitutes one of the major areas of the Commission's work ... [M]edia education covers representation of minorities in the media." (Page 18, ROK quote)

One of the key recommendations of the NHRCK Report is for them to:

"Issue a statement condemning the continued targeting, stigmatization and profiling of non-citizens by politicians, officials, educators and the media, on the Internet and other electronic communications networks and in society at large." (Page 69)

Send an email in to the NHRCK and let them know what you think. (They don't monitor expat blog posts.)

nhrc@humanrights.go.kr

Otherwise expect the bad laws to follow the bad news articles.

"An insidious process is unfolding in Korean society. Xenophobic beliefs have been allowed to spread through the media and society and are now threatening to become law." (Page 35)

Rachel said...

This is an intern that needs to get laid.

Or he's actually a really bright guy who realizes slamming foreigners will get him press and support.

Chris in South Korea said...

Rachel beat me to it - this poor intern realizes bashing foreigners sells papers / ads. We don't exactly buy the Chosun to begin with...

@Ben: I'll probably be sending an e-mail - but what would a statement made by the NHRCK accomplish? It feels like a candle going against the East Sea...

Anonymous said...

Chris -

An NHRCK opinion finding discrimination would be sent to the Constitutional Court and be seen as highly persuasive.

The Constitutional Court is now deciding whether or not to strike down the drug and AIDS test requirements as unconstitutional.

The Korean lawyers bring the Constituional Court case have cited the media barrage of unsubstantiated allegations concerning foreign English teachers as the reason the tests were implemented - and not public verifiable data.

Lots of emails to the NHRCK will let them know foreigners disagree with these portrayals. Don't expect Koreans to stand up for foreigners who don't care about the issue themselves. Koreans have other issues to deal with. If people have time to leave a comment complaining about these articles on a website they have time for an email. There were over 200 comments on Koreabeat over just the last 3 Chosun articles. Could have made an impact at the NHRCK.

Doesn't have to be a formal complaint, just send an email.

Anonymous said...

Anyone notice the photos were pulled from this article?