By It appears that the conflict between Anti-English Spectrum and the Association of English Teachers in Korea (ATEC) has hit a new low:
Greg Dolezal
The president of the Association of English Teachers in Korea received an anonymous e-mail threatening his death and accusing him of committing sex crimes after rumors of a former member of ATEK were posted online.Members of ATEK received two e-mails, one containing threats and another with an image apparently taken from a Naver Cafe post, but with ATEK president Greg Dolezal’s picture added.
“I have organized the KEK (Kill White in Korea). This group of people is about 200 in anywhere in Korea,” the e-mail read. “We will gonna start to kill and hit White (expletives) english spectrum from this Chirstmas. Don’t make a fuss in there, just get out.”
Dolezal said he was taking the matter seriously.
“An attack on me is an attack on all of us,” he said. “This is exactly the sort of person we’ve been talking about. This is beyond the pale, when you’re making death threats … (and threats of) throwing acid in my face.”Dolezal said he was taking all legal steps possible. Gimhae Police Department is investigating the case, and Dolezal said he was happy with how they were dealing with the situation. [Korea Herald]
Over at Brian in Jeollanam-do he has a whole lot more on this to include much activity in the comments section. It appears commenters are divided on whether this threat was legitimate or a prank played by an English teacher. Who knows, but this isn’t the first time death threats have been directed against a foreigner in Korea. Long time Korea watchers may remember the “Wanted Dead or Live” posters that were put up around Korea in the aftermath of the 2002 Armored Vehicle Accident.
There was never any attempt made against the lives of the two soldiers involved, but nevertheless it just showed how low the discourse had become. Though it is unlikely this threat is for real what English teachers should take seriously is the possibly of an incident similar to what happened in 2004 with the Shinchon Stabbing Incident. The “concerned citizens” in that incident were able to beat down the soldiers who ventured into an off limits area and then frame the incident to their favor in the Korean media.
In this picture one of the soldiers involved in the fight was posed for this photo for maximum propaganda effect:
This is a picture of the actual GI stabber being chocked by the mob:
Court records show the mob started the fight, but no charges were ever filed against the Koreans while the GI’s were jailed. The Korean who took these pictures urged in an interview for more anti-Americanism in Korea.
Anyway this incident is a perfect example of why soldiers should not go into off limits areas in Korea, which the Shinchon area where this incident took place is. If the soldiers would have followed regulations this would not have happened, not that this excuses the actions of the mob. It is also important that if a confrontation is about to happen it is best to simply swallow your pride and walk away. This is because as a foreigner you cannot win in Korea. In fact if you get hit across the face with a metal pipe you still have no right to self defense.
Not only that in a confrontation expect the Korean media to blantantly lie despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Even if you take proper precautions incidents can still happen, which has happened to me before, but if you can speak some basic Korean and are not in a shady area a situation can be difused rather easily. Keep in mind that the vast majority of Koreans are going to leave you alone and every time I have had an issue with a Korean, it was another Korean that helped me out. Now if I was a shady area with a bunch of drunks and was mouthing off the situation may have been very different.
4:02 am on November 29th, 2009 1
There was never any attempt made against the lives of the two soldiers involved, but nevertheless it just showed how low the discourse had become.
There was in fact an officer who was stabbed by two men in the underpass just north of Noksapyong Station, so it’s not as if the rhetoric did not take a grave and nearly deadly turn.
The “concerned citizens” in that incident were able to beat down the soldiers who ventured into an off limits area and then frame the incident to their favor in the Korean media.
The one guy ventured into an off-limits area with a knife and held it to someone’s neck. Regardless of who started it, I don’t think it would have been hard to frame that incident in favor of whoever wasn’t holding a knife to someone’s neck.
I noticed in the Metropolitician link that someone ghost-writing as me made an appearance. Happens a lot, especially on Metro’s “Scribblings” and “Hub of Sparkle” sites. I wonder what’s up with that.
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November 29th, 2009 at 9:27 am
And the soldier with the knife was punished with an attempted murder charge for it while the “concerned citizens” that started the fight were treated as heroes. Due to the continuous hate in the media and online directed towards GI’s at the time don’t you think it only encourages mobs to start such fights? The same thing is happening now towards English teachers.
Also the soldiers that was stabbed in the subway was not stabbed seriously. Once again he was assaulted by a mob and if they wanted to kill him they could have easily did so. He was also the EUSA PAO officer so he was highly recognizable to Koreans and which is probably why the mob targeted him. There was also another mob that kidnapped three soldiers along with a few other mob incidents.
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November 29th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
I’m just saying that I think the Shinchon stabbing incident has far too many mitigating factors for it to be a good parallel of irate citizenry trying to make good on a death threat.
The American group, one could argue, had started the fracas with their harassment of the taxi driver. Moreover, when they were breaking curfew (?) and deliberating entering areas they were told by command not to go, one finds it harder to believe they were just good kids out to have some clean fun. But most importantly, one of them took a knife — not grabbed sharp object nearby, but had brought a knife to a place he wasn’t supposed to go to in the first place and used it in a fight that his buddies had started.
I’m not saying they deserve to be railroaded (if that’s really what happened) but their case goes so far away from what Greg Dolezal has been threatened with that I think the PAO case is a far better example.
The PAO was going about in a normal situation (walking from work to home?) and was stabbed not in some off-limits bar district but at the entrance to a residential neighborhood. Whether his injuries were light or not, that’s closer to what this threat might suggest.
I’m certainly not saying this in order to downplay any real threat of violence. I am, after all, the one who brought up the PAO incident (which I had thought was more serious than you are saying here).
I think another problem with saying that “English teachers should take seriously is the possibly of an incident similar to what happened in 2004 with the Shinchon Stabbing Incident,” to the uninitiated or the forgetful, it sounds like a foreigner was the one being stabbed, when it was the other way around, right?
It’s not a case of “you should be careful because a Korean might stab you” but, to paraphrase one commenter at Brian’s, “you should be careful because a Korean might provoke you into stabbing someone.”
Sorry if I’m sounding too critical.
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4:56 am on November 29th, 2009 2
A diplomat once told me that the most common problem they had to deal with was drunken local men who would assault citizens of his country and then would lie about it to the police.
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9:52 am on November 29th, 2009 3
ATEK can’t win this. What are they thinking?
They could have just ignored it and it would have gone away.
Instead, they made a big deal of it. They brought bad attention to themselves, they irritated the cops and they fed the gleeful trolls who set out to provoke EXACTLY the frantic spaz-kid response that was given.
Painful.
Every time ATEK comes to public attention, they become more and more dislikable… from the aggressive-yet-shabby image of foreign teacher self-appointed “leadership” to the indignant hyperventilating over every issue-of-the-day… that would be forgotten faster if ATEK didn’t actually exist to bring yet another needless level of continued attention to it.
Further, the politics-centric, rather than results-oriented, structure of their organization shows me that we have few goals or values in common… and, in fact, they seem to represent the type of in-your-face, constant-chip-on-the-shoulder, the-man-be-getting-me-down thinking that I am very much against.
If they don’t self-destruct on their own due to political infighting or revealed scandal, they appear well on the way to further inflaming hostilities between foreign teachers and the equally crappy foreigner-haters… except their actions will likely assist their enemies in recruiting… while successful, can-do foreign teachers will avoid wallowing in the mud with the pigs.
I like living in Korea. I like being left alone. I like Korean people being happy to talk to me and willing to help me in a country that, for the most part, is respectful and helpful to sharp-looking and sharp-acting foreigners who have good manners and show a willingness to go along with the program (as I expect foreigners in America to do).
I don’t want a bunch of noisy dirtbags screwing this up (as they are in America).
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10:11 am on November 29th, 2009 4
GI,
“And the soldier with the knife was punished with an attempted murder charge for it while the “concerned citizens” that started the fight were treated as heroes.”
Are you talking about Pvt. John C. Humphrey?
You are kidding, right?
Drunk GIs jump on a taxi and you propose that the concerned citizens “started the fight”?
Naaaaw.
If someone jumps on my car, THEY just started the fight… and they deserve a serious arse-whoopin’. I bet you would feel the same if it was your car.
And… anybody who carries a knife (which is a LOT of Army guys and a few Air Force guys) in Korea is probably looking for some trouble where it is really, really hard to find… and, if they do find it, they deserve it.
If this situation happened in America… say, a bunch of drunk illegal Mexicans hassling some blue collar worker who is just trying to make a living, any group of citizens who stood against it would be doing the right thing instead of ignoring it and letting the barbarians having yet another victory.
It is very narrow-minded to fault Korean citizens for not accepting a group of aggressive foreigners who wish to stand on cars.
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11:16 am on November 29th, 2009 5
Poor Greg,
He migh have lost countless night of sleep because of this threat.
He also might had to stop goingo to his favorite soju bar or phojang macha and is now preparing to leave the country to save his life…
People still need to prove the there are serious anti-foreign groups acting in Korea.
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12:16 pm on November 29th, 2009 6
I believe it. They are after all, koreans being korean.
I remember reading in the korean media that a very high percentage of koreans believe it’s ok to use violence to solve problems.
Let’s not forget the bomb threats against the Swiss consulate in 2006 after the Swiss destroyed the korean soccer team by fair play. I wonder if the Italians made threats against the korean consulate in Italy in 2002? Hmm…
Let’s not forget the calls to film and/or attack foreigners with korean women in 2005. Yes, there were no reported attacks, but the fact is, people were calling for it too happen-and we’re supposed to be the racist barbarians.
But I guess I imagined this all and I live here in the fifth dimension.
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November 29th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
make that to
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12:49 pm on November 29th, 2009 7
After 9/11 attack, civilized American citizens started hatred actions against Muslim people in the USA. If it wasn´t for the government´s quick intervention advising people not to engage in such a ignorant behavior, only God knows how many tragedies involving Muslim people would have happened at that time in USA.
It was an isolated case in American history and so I believe it was the the case of the American soldiers portrayed by GI in this tread.
It´s an old news so like many people here like repeat when it comes to Korean stuffs: Time to move on.
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November 29th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Not so isolated with the new threat. In fact it seems to be a recurring way of thinking for korean people toward non koreans, thru out the years.
I remember well the face of the american/japanese short track skater, Apolo Ohno overlayed on a dogs body, after the 2002 Olympics. Heard about the hate mail also.
Koreans… they tried to sue the Olympic committee. Kim Dong Sung flung the korean flag to the ground. “rules”, koreans don’t need no stinkin rules.
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6:27 pm on November 29th, 2009 8
Retired GI wrote:
Not so isolated with the new threat. In fact it seems to be a recurring way of thinking for korean people toward non koreans, thru out the years.
So what will it mean if this threat is not from a member of AES or any Korean? From online and private discussions, it seems a lot of bloggers and commenters are highly skeptical that this is what it’s purported to be.
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10:54 pm on November 29th, 2009 9
1) ATEK is misspelled.
2) The picture is Dann Gaymer, not Greg Dolezal.
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7:09 pm on December 1st, 2009 10
The US military should have left South Korea 50 years ago. Had they left, there would be no such problems, would there? The US taxpayer can not afford to defend the ROK. Let S. Koreans defend themselves.
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9:19 pm on December 18th, 2009 11
The picture you posted is of Dann Gaymer – ATEK’s communication director. Please do some research. If you had visited our site once you would know that.
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December 18th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
The image has been corrected. However, if you are going to be snooty about it than take me off your mailing list and don’t bother sending me stuff to post. Thanks.
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December 19th, 2009 at 3:21 am
Snooty Greg. You got Greg pegged. GIKOREA, let me guess, Greg sent you a private email for his public snubbing. He is rude like a spoiled prince in public, and then in private, he goes “you must understand my special situation.”
Greg has not been very forthcomming on a lot of things. A lot of “little people” (as Greg likes to call English teachers) are wondering if Greg and Dann are behind all of this to make a story.
Until Greg releases ALL the information, count me as a sceptic on this big ATEK mess.
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9:24 pm on December 18th, 2009 12
We can’t ignore this threat, and no it won’t jsut go away. We absolutely need responsible citizens in Korea to be aware that there is a hate group spreading lies and affecting Korea’s image abroad.
A death threat should always be taken seriously.
If I didn’t act on this the fallout if something actually happens would be far worse than a few angry trolls.
The issues of treatment of foreigners in the media, AES and death threats, immigration and labor law, and Korea’s brand internationally are intimately connected.
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10:35 pm on December 18th, 2009 13
Greg, have you looked into the suggestion made by Mike (see here) about discerning the origins of the email?
Also, have there been any Korean-language posts to AES made by the member who made the threats?
In the absence of such materials in the latter question, it really does sound like an Anglophone sh¡t-stirrer and not a native Korean-speaking AES member. That is not to say that that would mean there is no threat; if such a person were to have gone this far, who knows how much further they would go to make a point or attempt to “prove” the threat is real.
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