Don't Be A Sucker In South Korea (English Teachers)

Hi everyone,

So in my last post I gave an introduction to the four different groups of Foreigners in South Korea (Scumbag English Teachers, Dirty Joe, Sleazy Contractor, and Lazy GS), and as promised we're going to look at some of the traps NETS (Native English Teachers), or Scumbag English Teachers have in this country.

So NETS have a different set of problems than the other groups have.

1. Unlike Contractors, GS or Military, NETS come into this country with no organization to support them. DOD related personnel come here with the backing of the U.S. government, military or just a parent company to help their people find apartments, provide legal assistance if needed and so on. NETS come here with none of that. If you came over with EPIK than you can expect some minimal support, but nothing great, and this is where the problems lie. NETS don't have a formal organization to help them with navigating through these issues in Korea. Therefore they can be left for exploitation from Shady Hagwons, landlords etc.

     Take for example the old trick of some Shady Hagwons requiring a NET to surrender their passport upon arrival. I don't hear to much of this today, but what would happen is that upon arrival the young unsuspecting NET would surrender their passport at the request of the Hagwon. The young naïve NET not knowing any better would do so, and then have to basically beg to get their passport back. Don't surrender your passport!

Another trick is again some Shady Hagwons won't pay on time, or not at all. So naturally you the NET want to quit, but if Shady Hagwon has your passport they can hold it hostage, or  threaten to give you a bad reputation so other schools won't hire you. And another trick is that Shady Hagwons won't sometimes due the proper tax deductions or even pay into the pension system. These are both a big deal, because by Korean law they should be paying into these. However, what can happen is that at the end of your contract when you try to leave Korea the tax authorities/immigration will hold your exit up until you pay your taxes. Also, depending on what country you come from you are entitled to have all your pension contributions returned to you when you leave Korea IF your school paid into them, so make sure not to get cheated on your pension contribution reimbursement.  As a NET make sure to due your due diligence before coming to Korea. Find out as much as possible about what your legal obligations and rights are.

2. As a NET you are subject to gossip: Be very careful about how you handle yourself at work. Koreans love to gossip, and especially about the new foreign teacher. So be cautious the next time you get invited to dinner, or even who you're dating. You might think it's all fun and games to go to those after school dinners the Koreans have here so much, and share in a few drinks. However be warned your being monitored by your co-workers, and they will talk about how much you drink, even judging you by it. This happened to more than one of my NET friends. 

The same thing can apply to dating. If you should find yourself dating a local girl don't be the surprise when you become the  hot topic of gossip around the office, or town in my case. It is not a joke or an exaggeration to say that the people of I-Bam Myeong and Yeong Yang knew more about what I was doing than I was. I know this because before I married my wife there were rumors that we had moved in together before marriage (not true)and that we had even gotten married and divorced, before we got married! It was really silly the gossip that was going on about my future wife and me. On the other hand don't be surprised when a girl doesn't want to date you because she's afraid of being the target of local gossip. I had that happen to me also.

3. What About Joe: This isn't an everyday problem for the NETs, but it can rear it's ugly head if your not careful. As a guy who lived here as both a soldier/NET I know what I'm talking about when I say don't chase girls near military bases. The girls near those bases often really are Gold Diggers, and a NET can't compete with the money and resources that Joe brings to the table. For example, go back to my previous post "Don't Be a Sucker In South Korea (introduction) and I mention the woman I dated who said English Teachers are losers, WELL as it turned out she was also a Gold Digger looking to get hooked up again with Joe or someone else DOD related. It didn't matter how well my finances were managed, or even if I had good character, what mattered was having access to the PX, which I didn't at the time. BUT when I joined the U.S. Army Reserve in South Korea, and I had access to the PX along with extra pay and benefits then the women like her were whistling a different tune. So guys don't waste your time around the military bases looking for "love" It's possible you could find a good girl there, but with so much more money coming from Joe the chicks will often just want to trade up for a soldier and his government cheese. On top of which, remember soldiers like to travel in packs. It's called the Buddy System, and sometimes my English Teachers buddies have reported feeling threatened even bullied by the soldiers, because they were alone or simply not military.

That's all for now. I could literally go on for days about this, but I hope this post helped to get my point across. If you want more information then feel free to ask me or even check out some expat forums online to see what I'm talking about.