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.

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.

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.

2) The picture is Dann Gaymer, not Greg Dolezal.

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.

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.

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.