SMOE trying to hire more teachers now.

According to a thread on Dave's ESL Cafe, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education---which in August infamously cut 100 jobs days before teachers were to fly to Korea (1, 2, 3)---is looking to hire more teachers for this fall semester.

I just received a call from SMOE telling me they now "unexpectedly" have positions available in October and because I was part of the group that got cut the day before leaving back in August they want to offer it to me again.

Do i trust this?

furthermore, i've already accepted another job and they have my documents adn now i'm waiting for my visa number to get a new one. apparently though, SMOE never canceled my visa like i was told. i'm now just worried about getting double screwed and wondering what i should do...

And an interesting addition by another poster:

SMOE failed to cancel my visa as well. I'm not sure if it was the recruiter or the SMOE, but it wasn't until I had informed them that I had accepted another position that they offered another job.

As the posters there say, that a teacher left a contract so shortly after starting it signals trouble. Moreover, even though it's clear schools in Korea both public and private are capable of pulling crap like that, why would somebody jilted by SMOE trust it again? The original poster responds and says she'll go with the other job she has lined up:

thanks everybody. i pretty much decided on that plan but i suppose i needed to hear it from others who could relate as well.

i have been told many times (now that they need people) they feel "very badly" about what happened to me.

badly enough to pay for my ticket/wasted months of my life?

ah yes. that's right. no.

One of my Facebook friends said he received an email from an old recruiter he used a while ago, advertising among other things SMOE jobs for the spring. The friend emailed back asking about the screw-up this summer, though I don't know what response he received.

SMOE has yet to make any comment, aside from bringing out an unnamed spokeswoman for a Korea Times piece who essentially put the blame on unreliable foreign teachers:

An official from the education office said, "Many foreign teachers give up working with us at the last minute, perplexing schools that are supposed to have native English speakers, so we secure extra teaching hopefuls every year. For this semester, we selected enough applicants for a possible shortage as we recruit a large number of teachers."

She added some of the foreign teachers whose contracts were withdrawn had failed to submit necessary documents and skip mandatory orientation programs.

So rather than explaining what happened or offering an apology to the hundred who were jilted and the thousands who were disgusted, SMOE blames foreign teachers. Nice. But, I know when public schools start hiring for spring---EPIK accepts applications from October 1st, and other recruiters are accepting applications now---there will be plenty of applicants who will have never heard of this screw up.